The proliferation of can't

• You can’t use your internet connection for whatever you want
  • You can’t tell those people how you build your rocket. I mean, my God man, what if the Europeans find out how we build rockets. Oh the humanity!
  • You can’t share that video with your friends
  • You can’t eat that, it’ll make you fat so we’ve made it illegal for you to buy it
  • You can’t install that app on your phone, it cuts into our ego. Don’t you know we’re Apple you idiot?
  • You can’t have unlimited bandwidth on that cell phone plan, when we said unlimited we meant 5GB
  • You can’t explore that planet without a permit
  • You can’t play OUTSIDE in the neighborhood, ALONE! You’re 10, you can go outside by yourself when you’re older.
  • You can’t collect rainwater without permission (are you freaking kidding me?)
  • You can’t build a rocket engine in your garage despite what you saw in that October Sky movie, what are you a damn terrorist or something?

Can’t can’t can’t can’t.

Rules don’t scale.

I bought a Kind bar today because it seemed more healthy than a Snickers. On the package it says:

• Gluten Free
• Wheat Free
• Dairy Free
• Non GMO
• etc

When did we start buying things because of what’s NOT in them?

How can we tell our kids to explore, invent, and innovate if they have to operate inside a strict set of rules designed to protect what we have now? If we spend all of our energy protecting what we have now, isn’t there a danger that we’ll deny ourselves the future we want?

I’m a CAN kind of person. I look for what’s in things, not what’s excluded. I look for what CAN be done. My kids are allowed to explore and take risks.

I’ve broken up with CAN’T.

Archived Comments

beth beck (2010-04-15 15:38:12):

Your kids are lucky to have a CAN kinda' dad. :)

John Pritchard (2010-04-14 17:57:39):

Cool. Me too. :)