On Laziness

Neon Memes • A few months ago, as part of what seems a tedious and perpetual renovation, the mid-rise housing St. Louis Magazine installed tandem Stanley Magic-Swing doors on one side of its main first-floor entry. At base a fine, service-oriented move. A visitor confined to a wheelchair would undoubtedly appreciate such a move, as would a dolly-jockeying DHL, FedEx or UPS carrier or any of the tot-toting moms frequenting Brentwood Pediatrics (1600 S. Brentwood Boulevard, Ste. 100, 314.918.8827). I have no quarrel whatsoever with disabled or encumbered individuals activating the "PUSH TO OPEN" square metal plates from Connecticut's Stanley Access Technologies. It does, however, vex me―mightily―to see able-bodied, unburdened men and women do likewise. Such behavior strikes me as more than the acme of laziness; it strikes me as emblematic of how tragically awry things have gone in the U.S. in the past decade or so. Citizens of the nation which rebounded so decisively from Pearl Harbor, which landed a man on the moon and which achieved so many other feats in the so-called American century can no longer trouble themselves to push open a swinging door. The Founding Fathers would be so proud. ―Bryan A. Hollerbach, Managing Editor