Passing the test

 Signs

And the sign said long-haired, freaky people need not apply,
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why,
He said, "You look like a fine, upstanding young man, I think you'll do."
So, I took off my hat.  "I said imagine that.  Huh, me working for you."

Chorus:
Signs, Signs, everywhere signs.
Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind.
Do this, don't do that. Can't you read the sign?

The sign said, "Anybody caught trespassing will be shot on sight."
So, I jumped on the fence and yelled at the house, "Hey what gives you the right
to put up a fence to keep me out or to keep Mother Nature in.
If God was here, he'd tell it to your face, 'Man you're some kind of sinner.'"

Chorus

Now, hey you mister, can't you read? You've got to have a shirt and tie to get a seat.
You can't even watch, you can't even... You ain't supposed to be here.
The sign said you got to have a membership card to get inside...  uumph!

And the sign said, "Everybody welcome, come in, kneel down, and pray."
Then they passed around the plate at the end of it all.  I didn't have a penny to pay.
So I got me a pen and a paper, and I made out my own little sign.
I said, "Thank you, Lord, for thinking about me.  I'm alive and doing fine."

Chorus

It was in 1971 that young people became tired of being told what to wear, how to think, what to make of themselves, or who to associate with.  So, the song Signs was a big hit.

Here it is 2012.  Deja Vu.   It seems as if so many people want to tell me what to do, what not to do, or how to do the simplest things.

I was told...
I should not have a patty melt to eat because it wasn't healthy.
I was driving too fast in a 40 MPH zone.  I was driving 45.
Not to drive 75 MPH even though that was the speed limit.  The person didn't like going that fast.
I should leave at least a car length between cars at a stop light.  I was too close to the car ahead of me.
I made too many out-of-town trips.
I don't make good business decisions.
I made too many allowances for my daughter.
I needed to lose weight.
I needed to go to the cardiologist.
I needed to be more religious.
There was a certain way to change a baby's diaper (& I wasn't doing it the right way).
That my choice of music wasn't satisfactory.
That I looked shaggy in a beard.
That my hair was too long.
That I had made a poor career choice.
That I need not try to fix a toy train for a niece because I'm not handy.

Blah, blah, blah.
All of this in a two-week period of time.
Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind.

It's a test.  No, I have more character than to succumb to the many voices that say, "Can't you read the sign?"