The law tends to regulate as it ought to be not as it is. This means that often the law spends a lot of energy attempting to correct real behavior to be closer to the idea of what a certain behavior should be. When the law does this in ridiculous circumstances the guardians of the law glow with pride and refer to higher principles.
The problem is that he regulator should create laws and other regulatory systems not only with “ideal behavior” in mind. But it should take into consideration what people want. Unfortunately the law rarely asks: is this the hill I want to die on? But struggles to fight for principles in the face of overwhelming odds.
With this in mind it is fun to see that a mayor in Germany has created this bench for young people where the design promtoes sitting on high.
Dieter Mörlein demonstrates young peoples bench. Photo: PS Geschwill
A mayor in Germany is attracting interest from other cities after he installed a special park bench for town teens who refuse to sit properly.
After residents of the southwestern city of Eppelheim complained teenagers always sat on the top of benches, rather than on the seat itself which they dirtied with their shoes, Mayor Dieter Moerlein came up with the idea of putting the seat on top.
Instead of continuing a rather pointless battle between different user groups about the “correct” use of the bench this Mayor has realized that more may be gained by accommodating the needs of different users.
