Captain Marvel and the Not-So-Great Escape

What is it that makes boys want to accomplish the impractical, the improbable, and the impossible? Is it their sense of adventure? A test of skill and ability? Or just plain failure to consider the consequences? I laughed when I heard of how "Max", a very bright eleven-year-old, came to his mother with a shoelace one day and asked her to tie his wrists together. "It's for a game we're playing" he insisted. Very reluctantly she obliged his request. Not long after she heard a terrible crash, feared the worst, and wondered how on earth she could have done what he asked. She found him in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, banged, bruised, and presumably humiliated, but thankfully not broken. Not only were his wrists bound together, but his ankles were wrapped with duct tape. His explaination...He just wanted to see if he could get down the stairs that way. I guess he found out he could! He evidently never considered the possibility of broken bones or a trip to the emergency room, not to mention how his mom would ever explain to the doctors why she had tied his wrists together. I laugh because I have five boys who have also tried plenty of silly stunts, some with not so wonderful results. How do you explain why your son had a razor blade under his pillow, or how your son got that gash in his head just "throwing rocks in the lake"? Such are the escapades of boyhood! My father still laughs at his own stunts 65 years later. He says it was a wonder he and his brother weren't killed, but he's smiling as he says it. There is something absolutely intriguing about a boy. I love them in spite of the fact that so often I walk away shaking my head in disbelief. They bring an excitement and sense of wonder into the world. Thank you, Lord, for boys. Hmmmm....I wonder who it was that held the duct tape?

"Caution: Cape does not enable user to fly."-Batman costume warning label