As I opened a cabinet with a child lock, I realized that the lock was no longer necessary. My youngest son (for whom the lock was installed) is now old enough to use the contents of that cabinet, and he knows how to operate the latch. He does so many times every day.

* * *

This got me thinking about locks and gatekeepers. How things change over time, and how we may have locks where they’re no longer needed.

How we may be keeping people out of things to which they should now have access.

How some things which were once exclusive, might be improved if they were inclusive.

So the question is this: where are the locks and latches that we can remove? The barriers that, once removed, would make things better?