When People Tell You What To Do
I decided that I was going to find out who killed Wellington even though Father had told me to stay out of other people’s business.
This is because I do not always do what I am told.
And this is because when people tell you what to do it is usually confusing and does not make sense.
For example, people often say “Be quiet,” but they don’t tell you how long to be quiet for. Or you see a sign which says KEEP OFF THE GRASS but it should say KEEP OFF THE GRASS AROUND THIS SIGN or KEEP OFF ALL THE GRASS IN THIS PARK because there is lots of grass you are allowed to walk on.
Also people break rules all the time. For example, Father often drives at over 30 mph in a 30 mph zone and sometimes he drives when he has been drinking and often he doesn’t wear his seat belt when he is driving his van. And in the Bible it says Thou shall not kill but there were the Crusades and two world wars and the Gulf War and there were Christians killing people in all of them.
Also I don’t know what Father means when he says “Stay out of other people’s business” because I do not know what he means by “other people’s business” because I do lots of things with other people, at school and in the shop and on the bus, and his job is going into other people’s houses and fixing their boilers and their heating. And all of these things are other people’s business.
Siobhan understands. When she tells me not to do something she tells me exactly what it is that I am not allowed to do. And I like this.
For example, she once said, “You must never punch Sarah or hit her in any way, Christopher. Even if she hits you first. If she does hit you again, move away from her and stand still and count from 1 to 50, then come and tell me what she has done, or tell one of the other members of staff what she has done.”
Or, for example, she once said, “If you want to go on the swings and there are already people on the swings, you must never push them off. You must ask them if you can have a go. And then you must wait until they have finished.”
But when other people tell you what you can’t do they don’t do it like this. So I decide for myself what I am going to do and what I am not going to do.
-Mark Haddon (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time)
Tags: Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
kruz says:
sounds like a typical dimwit american…:idea:
April 19th, 2006 at 05:25 pm