Chalking (using sidewalk chalk) to spread a message is a great medium. It washes away from the surface on which it was used, leaving no long-term indication that it was ever there. People who get upset about it, are, therefore, uptight. However, believe it or not, using sidewalk chalk has resulted in arrests.

Now, in Colorado, a young child is being told that she can’t write on the sidewalk in her neighborhood’s “common area.” Of course, this is not the police telling her this, but the Homeowner’s Association (HOA). While I agree that people should have the right to join these things, I don’t know why anyone on earth would do it. The HOA board simply becomes the stand in for the police in terms of complaining about others and curbing their behaviors.

“We live on a courtyard and we all bought into the notion that we were sharing a space,” said Cohen.

But the HOA said because it is a shared space, anything that offends, disturbs or interferes with the peaceful enjoyment isn’t allowed. It seems that some neighbors have complained.

The woman and her child have no idea which neighbor complained. That’s a problem. Since when is it the norm to go to some authority for something that’s annoying you rather than talking to that person and working out a compromise?

A message to the people in the land of the free — if you cannot write on the sidewalk with harmless chalk, you are not free.

A message to the people in the home of the brave — sending some authority figure to deal with your 3-year old neighbor’s chalk drawings isn’t very brave of you.

Related posts:

1. It’s a free country, I can ______ if I want to. No, you can’t.
2. The Hunger Wars in Philadelphia