Friday, September 25, 2009

The Door of the Hospital Courtyard

I love signs like these. No one planned this hospital courtyard and decided in advance of its opening in the planning phases that such signage would be a good idea. No, this sign is there because somebody tried it. Somebody thought it would be a good idea to go into the courtyard of dignfied serious St. Mary's hospital with antique chapel spires with ornate stone pillars, a courtyard looked out onto by patients' rooms, visitor waiting rooms, exam rooms, and doctors' and staff offices, and take off some significant measure of their clothing to take in the sun's rays. I would love to know the back story that lead to this sign, who it was that attempted their bold bathe in the sun, when it was, what they were thinking. Was it just once that riled someone up so much that the signs went up on every door, or was it a number of times that it happened, leading to a calmer approach and voting at a meeting that lead to these signs? People can be funny, on both sides of these signs: The people who triggered the rules and the people who made the rules and put up the signs to enforce them.

1 comment:

Chuckles said...

From my favorite philosopher:

Should I abide by the rules until they're changed, or help speed the change by breaking them? - Ashleigh Brilliant

And, of course, we can have no meaningful discussion of signs without recalling:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Q7cP3ij5g