\u201cIf I let you do it, I\u2019d have to let everyone do it!\u201d I heard a friend say this at one of her famous Sunday afternoon, neighborhood turkey and ham dinner parties a while back. I can\u2019t mention her name without violating the privacy regulations; it\u2019s Nancy Ruiz! She was relating a conversation she had with a kid in the school cafeteria who\u2019d asked her to bend the rules. It woke me from my usual coma like state at these events.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo you wouldn\u2019t!\u201d I shouted from across the room, bringing a dead silence to the huddles of conversation throughout the house. \u201cYou could have given him what he wanted.\u201d She looked at me as though I was nuts, and she was probably right, but I\u2019ve heard that line a million times and it drives me crazy.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s very predominant in public schools. It\u2019s where I first encountered it. Miss Wood, my fourth grade teacher, told me in no uncertain terms, \u201cNo, you can not turn in your assignment tomorrow; it\u2019s due today. I\u2019m giving you a zero. If I let you turn it in late, I\u2019d have to let everybody turn theirs in late!\u201d No she wouldn\u2019t, just the kid who spends the creative energy to come up with an original excuse. Mine was that I\u2019d set my English homework down on the sidewalk when I stopped to repair a bird\u2019s broken wing. A dog came along and ran off with my essay. (That alone deserved something higher than a zero.)<\/p>\n
You run into this \u201cIf I let you \u2026..\u201d excuse\u201d all the time, especially when dealing with corporate or governmental bureaucracies. Service reps recite it so often it sounds like a religious chant. Once in a blue moon you get someone who will bend the rules, but for the most part you get a full helping of, \u201cWhat do you think would happen if we let all our customers do that?\u201d (my response) – \u201cTHEY\u2019D BE HAPPY AND YOU\u2019D HAVE THOUSANDS MORE! DUH!\u201d<\/p>\n
I have to admit I\u2019m probably over sensitive to the \u201cIf I let you\u201d excuse. I\u2019ve felt its\u2019 sting time and again over the years. It\u2019s almost always been something the person could have done, in fact, should have been happy to do. And, it\u2019s almost always the case that they wouldn\u2019t have had to do it for EVERYBODY. I wonder what the world would be like if everybody used this excuse as often as the bureaucrats in government and in corporations. It would be pretty miserable. Old coots would suffer the most; our senior citizen discounts and early bird specials would disappear. \u201cLet the old guy have my seat\u201d would be replaced with, \u201cGet out of the way you old coot. If I gave you my seat I\u2019d have to be polite to all old people!\u201d The guy in the aisle seat on an airplane wouldn\u2019t jump up to let me out when a leg cramp strikes my calf. Melissa, at the Goat Boy Coffee Bar, wouldn\u2019t advance me a cup of coffee and say it\u2019s Ok to pay tomorrow when I walk out of the house without my wallet.<\/p>\n
But there is a solution. If we all just reject the \u201cIf I let you do it\u201d mentality and replaced it with the Golden Rule. It\u2019s such an easy fix.<\/p>\n
Old Coot books are available at Riverow Bookshop, Owego.<\/p>\n
Comments, complaints can be left at mlessler7@gmail.com.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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