Allow me to diverge from my usual high-minded subject matter and raise an issue that has been bugging me of late.

There exists in our society a significant number of men who appear either unwilling or unable to flush the toilet after they have concluded their daily constitutional. This is becoming an epidemic of biblical proportions. Based on my recent experience, somewhere in the neighborhood of 30% of toilets in public bathrooms are left unflushed, and frankly, I think it’s gross.

My youngest son has not yet accepted the urinal as the vessel of convenience, so I have been spending more time than usual in public bathrooms. I grimace every time I swing open a stall door, always at the ready to shield my son’s young eyes from potentially horrifying scenes.

I can’t figure out if these men are lazy and can’t be bothered with flushing, or if they get some kind of perverse pleasure from the thought of sharing their creations with unsuspecting strangers. I wonder if they behave like this at home, or if they save their juvenile actions for the general public. Maybe they picture themselves as artists, and can’t bear the thought of erasing their masterpieces without first putting them on exhibit.

I don’t spend much any time in women’s bathrooms, so I’m not sure if this unpleasant phenomenon is shared by both sexes or is strictly the domain of men. Speak up, ladies – have the non-flushers been infiltrating your ranks as well?