A Pointless Competition
I was recently in a doctor’s waiting room where there was a
sign on a door that read, “Do not block door.” Yet there was a clear and ample pathway
leading to and from the door; I would have had to go out of my way to move furniture
or seek other objects to block the entry. It would have been different if this
were a fire exit and near clutter that would have been a hazard in an
emergency.
By contrast, a reasonable sign would be “Do not smoke/No
smoking.” That’s a behavior that one might realistically need to address.
The likelihood of someone blocking the door was remote. “Do
not block door” was a waste of words. They might as well have had signs that
read:
·
Do not set fire to the furniture
·
Do not stab yourself in the foot
·
Do not bite other patients
·
Do-it-yourself surgery not permitted
The likelihood of needing to forestall any such actions is
close to zero, one would hope.
Which brings us to this blog’s first competition. I’m
offering a prize: one of my recent books (see below*). It will go to the reader
who emails me what I think is the funniest or most absurdly pointless sign (or
signs) that you can imagine appearing in a doctor’s waiting room. Deadline: July
25.
The books are:
·
I’ll be Your Server: The Heart of Christian
Discipleship
·
Meet the Dog that Didn’t Sh*t:101 Reflections
on Words and Their Magic
·
Sit, Stand, Walk, Run: A Vocabulary for the
Christian’s Journey
·
The God Who Blesses
·
Your Photo on God’s Fridge Door: 101 Parables
and Analogies for Today
See Amazon for more information about these titles.
* I can send the prize only to someone in the USA or
Canada; sorry.
May the most imaginative reader win.
[300 words]
