Somewhat of a Conversation

As I stare down at Josi's sneakers, a thought pushes its way through my brain, rude and foreign: "what has the government done to my 13 year-old brother to make him believe in anarchy?"

Yes. He had, in fact, roughly scribbled with a grubby pre-teen hand the anarchy symbol on both the tips of his classic black and white Chuck Taylor all-stars. Some questions promptly followed.

Me: "Do you know what anarchy is?"

Josi: [indignantly] "Yes! It's the absence of government!"

Me: "What has the government done to you?"

Josi: [he mumbles something about tax rates and wishing there was no government]

Me: "Are you old enough to vote?"

Josi: "No..."

Me: "What do you think would happen if we had no government?"

Josi: "I'd be able to do whatever I want!"

Me: "What is the government particularly barring you from doing right now?"

To that he had no answer. This was the moment where my dad found out about it, instructing my kid brother to remove his shoes at once and scribble out the symbol. But I like things clean and neat (at least when Sharpie is involved). I therefore spent some time scrubbing the crude sharpie marks with acetone and my mum finished the job with magic eraser.

What exactly IS magic eraser? It looks like a block of packing foam, but it removes EVERYTHING. Even anarchy symbols from Chuck Taylors. I've been thinking about whether it might remove an actual person if I tried erasing them.

You know what is funny about my brother's beliefs? He had no problem giving them up. Once I proved him wrong, he obediently removed the shoes and hugged me goodnight. It's insane what some people might do for attention. I must remember that most kids need it like they need calcium, and crave it like they crave candy.

A sidenote: Stop trying to have more forks and spoons than knives. It's never going to happen. The knife side of the drawer will always be more heavy. There's a small demon at work, forcing unnecessary knives upon a fork-craved population.