Among the many things about which Americans are more prudish than other inhabitants of our fair planet (sex being the best known) are any number of naturally occurring bodily functions: flatulence, from whatever orifice; expectoration, from whatever source; and virtually any function of the alimentary variety (going out, not coming in).
Children, of course, are exempted from such prudishness, and it is their fascination with the brave new world of their own tiny bodies that has produced an exceptional body of literature (no pun intended) that would make for a fascinating private library if only their parents could get past their squeamishness about collecting it (again, no pun intended):
Alas, most adults only seem to develop an interest in such books when a child becomes constipated due to fear of using the bathroom:
This sometimes leads to the purchase of additional books on the subject, some of these books to assuage the child's concerns, others to assuage the concerns of the parent:
Once in a great while, though, a particularly insightful parent will realize that his or her child's concern and fascination with this most natural of all bodily functions represents a perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect the child's world to what Lovelock termed Gaia, the complex biological system which (he argues) sustains us all:
Of course, once a collector starts down this path, similar outre subjects may well present themselves....
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