I'm not doing this

I had to go to a child advocacy event today, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself. But it peeved me.

I have to admit here that my BS threshhold is really low these days.

There were about 50 people there and they divided us into two groups for the tour. Each group got a different colored wristband and then had to adopt a team name, slogan and sign. That was a little silly, but OK, until we were told to play practical jokes on the other team, doing things that would annoy them, like hiding their belongings and taking their seats on the bus.

First of all, I went on the tour to cover it, so I shouldn't participate in activities. But more than that, it's not funny to be mean. Ever.

I told our team leader I was very uncomfortable with the turn this was taking.

He shrugged it off (he had to -- it was part of the plan to illustrate how gangs form and get people to become loyal members).

So I took off my wristband.

I don't even like to play at being mean to somebody for an arbitrary reason like the color of a wristband. It's too close to being mean to somebody because of the color of their skin or because they're poor. It's just not funny to me right now.

I haven't lost my sense of humor, but I am a little sensitive about some things and this is one of them.