From: jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid   
      
   I try to live in a rose-and-butterfly world where most people believe,   
   deep down where it counts, that it's wrong to hurt people, that nobody   
   owns anybody, and it isn't right to hold people to contracts that they   
   never signed.   
      
   Now and again I'm forced to notice that most people are devout   
   coercitarians.   
      
   One such notice has been sticking with me more than thirty years.  In   
   a book about gardening technique, the author casually noted that she   
   couldn't raise a particular plant because the seedlings looked like   
   the seedlings of a weed that was common in her area, and as soon as   
   they came up, one or another of her "friends" would drop by while she   
   was out, pull them all up, and expect to be praised for it.   
      
   The author didn't see anything the least bit wrong with this   
   situation.   
      
   A more-obvious notice, ten or twenty years ago, was  a "humor" column   
   in some bicycle magazine.   
      
   The author of the column had been in the habit of riding with a group   
   of friends, one of whom was noted for refusing to change his chain   
   even though the wear had become obvious.   The narrator got fed up   
   with being associated with such a scandalous chain, so he bought a new   
   one and concealed the new chain and a chain-changing tool about his   
   person the next time the group met to ride.  When they stopped for a   
   rest and a snack, the narrator lagged behind when the group went into   
   the building, then, once assured that his victim would be preoccupied   
   for a time, quickly took off the scandalous chain, threw it into a   
   dumpster, installed the new chain, and awaited peals of gratitude.   
      
   Now the hysterically-funny part of this story is that the victim   
   mounted up without looking at his chain, and the odd way it shifted   
   didn't arouse his suspicion, but when they'd gotten a mile or so down   
   the road, the new chain called itself to his attention by failing to   
   work entirely -- inspection revealed that the old chain and his   
   drivetrain had worn to fit each other, and the old drivetrain couldn't   
   function with the new chain.  So the victim had to sit by the road*   
   while the rest of the group rode back to where they had left their   
   cars so that one of them could drive out to pick him up.   
      
   Since the old chain was irretrievable, he had no choice but to replace   
   his entire drivetrain, which was cheaper in the days of freewheels   
   than it is now that everything is in cassettes, but still not cheap.   
      
   I don't suppose that the expense was a hardship to the victim -- you   
   don't go on club rides unless you are reasonably comfortable -- but   
   that isn't how he had chosen to spend his money.    And he had to give   
   up riding until the new components could be ordered, delivered,   
   installed, and shaken down.   
      
   The narrator never suspected that his actions might have been in any   
   way other than beneficial.   
      
   --   
   Joy Beeson   
   joy beeson at comcast dot net   
      
   * or, perhaps, walk slowly along a path known to his rescuers, which I   
   know from experience is much more comfortable than waiting in a place   
   not designed for waiting.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)