What does it take to get through to you?

Recently received an email about a High School that was recently faced with a unique problem.

Apparently “a number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night.

To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.

Priceless! Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror. There are teachers.... and then there are educators!”

Again, I have no idea if it is true or not, but I thought it priceless myself, but also so typical of people’s attitudes these days. It reminded me of an old cartoon I saw many moons ago, that had a sign on a Bridge saying." Please don't feed the Sharks", and then had two men talking with one saying, "Of course there are no sharks there, but it is much more effective than the old sign that said, "No jumping off the Bridge".

Many times it seems, we are happy to ignore rules and regulations when it suits us, but when we find that there is a personal cost to pay or a personal health implication for ourselves, we are not so keen anymore, are we?

So what rules are you breaking today, and is it really wise to be doing so, or should you be setting a better example to all who watch or observe you? Again, what say you?