Been a while

So, it's been a while since I've been on here - sorry. Life just gets busy sometimes and even when it's not, I still don't always think about blogging. : ) What new thoughts on life do I have you might ask? Well, really not anything new, but I'll leave this thought with you nonetheless.

The Sister made a comment to me the other day that I saw in full practice this morning. She said that if she were ever to do a research study she would study the psychology of ropes...meaning why people will automatically stand in a line once a rope is put up. It really is an interesting phenomenon when you think about it. Have we been socialized to not cross the rope or is it just a natural human reaction? What is it about the rope that says "Don't cross"?

I started thinking about this more. It doesn't just happen with ropes and lines. It happens with all kinds of things. At Wal-Mart the other day, there were several people lined up to use the self checkout lanes. One lady had to go to the attendant to take care of her over-sized item and left her register open. It took about 5 mintues before anyone moved out of the lines behind me to use that open register. What about it said, "Don't get out of line"?

Then this morning, The Husband and I took The Wee One to get her H1N1 shot. The shot clinic was being held a one of the local churches. By 8:01, there were probably 300 people in line (the clinic started at 8). So, while standing in line, outside, waiting to get a shot I started to notice how people reacted to it all. No real complaints (fortunately it was nice out), just tired parents holding kids. Then we got a little closer and I noticed a playground. There was a gate that was closed, but not locked or even latched between the line and the playground. Even though there were kids EVERYWHERE and they all held onto the gate with longingness in their eyes, no parent dared open the gate and let the kids play while they waited. BTW...this line did not move quickly. When we got there we were about 3/4 of a block away from the entrance and it took over an hour for us to reach the door.

Now, I did not challenge the gates either, but I found it interesting that with literally hundreds of people, and at least a third of them being kids, no one even tried to go play. Is this a positive or a negative reflection of how socialized we are as a society? I really don't have an answer for that, just putting it out there.

So, that's my post to get back in the blog world...hope it's good enough. HA!

I'm out!