Have you heard the one about the six-year-old Cub Scout who was so proud of his scout eating utensil that he took it to use at school?  He got 45 days in a disciplinary school because the practical tool included a little knife.

And then there’s the third grader who was expelled for a year because she brought her birthday cake to school.  The problem?  Her sensible grandmother had packed a knife to make it easier for the teacher.  What did the teacher do?  She first cut the cake and then called the principal.

Both were wasted nonsense moments.  Nonsense moments are opportunities for teaching and learning.  Sadly for the kids, the people in charge didn’t understand that.  That’s why they turned the teaching moments into punishment moments.

Nonsense is born when places of learning frown upon common sense.  And nonsense is perpetuated when you don’t encourage the opposite at work.

Legally spreading illness

Here is your nonsense moment, America! Your right to spread swine flu is enshrined in your constitution. You didn’t know? Well, consider how difficult it is for people who are ill to stay home.

Hey, it’s all legal. It’s part of capitalism and a free society – no work no pay.

The problem is that the law of unintended consequences doesn’t care a hoot for the ‘right to work’ laws. Insist that sick people work to achieve the holy grail of higher productivity and what do we get? We get a society sick in more ways than one.

Nothing shows clearer how sick our culture is as when sick people come to work. Just ask those millions of Americans who don’t get paid if they don’t go to work.

Suicides at work

So, how sick is our culture? Well, have you seen any good suicides at work lately? I guess not.

It’s just another difference between the French business model and the American model. While Americans tend to kill their bosses and co-workers, the French kill themselves. For example, since 2008, 24 workers at France Telecom have committed suicide, blamed on trouble at work.

Something is obviously wrong in the work place and it is no laughing matter. At this time of year these problems become even more noticeable at home.

It can be a joyful time of year if you are surrounded by family and friends happily sharing in much to be thankful for. It can also be a very depressing time if you have little left to be thankful for and no one around to help share that pain.

What is paining me lately is how many people believe today that it’s cool to relax before they’ve actually done anything. Now, when I was their age . . .

. . . we would first eat our vegetables and then our meat. That philosophy applied to other areas - schoolwork before play; chores before pocket money; work before vacation.

In those days, we had to earn the right to goof off. We knew that chilling is not a human right; it is a reward.

Please don’t waste your holiday nonsense moments. Teach your children that this is a time to chill, but only after they’ve eaten their broccoli.

Else one day they may have to choose between the American and French models of dealing with pain at work.