The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture
31
Let’s Make a Deal
W HEN I was in grad school, I developed the habit of tipping back
in my chair at the dining-room table. I would do it whenever I visited
my parents’ house, and my mother would constantly reprimand me.
“Randolph, you are going to break that chair!” she’d say.
I liked leaning back in the chair. It felt comfortable. And the
chair seemed to handle itself on two legs just fine. So, meal after meal
after meal, I’d lean back and she’d reprimand.
One day, my mother said, “Stop leaning back in that chair. I’m not
going to tell you again!”
Now that sounded like something I could sign up for. So I
suggested we create a contract—a parent/child agreement in writing. If I
broke the chair, I’d have to pay to replace not just the chair…but, as an
added inducement, the entire dining-room set. (Replacing an individual
chair on a twenty-year-old set would be impossible.) But, until I actually
broke the chair, no lectures from Mom.
Certainly my mother was right; I was putting stress on the chair
legs. But both of us decided that this agreement was a way to avoid
arguments. I was acknowledging my responsibility in case there was
damage. She was in the position of being able to say “You should always
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