Authority

After a car screeched past and clipped a parked motorcycle, a representative of the street fair strolled out into the street. He assessed the scene and waved off the onlookers. No one is hurt. Nothing to see. He stood on the median and talked on a cell phone. A police car pulled up, lights flashing. He got off the phone and talked to the police, nodding his head confidently. The entire time that he was performing these duties, he wore a two-foot tall crown of balloons.

I once saw a crowd clear a path because a man wearing a beanie with an umbrella sticking out of the top said they should.

We cede authority to anybody wearing a t-shirt that says “Staff” across the back and give up claim to any ground that’s been marked off with sacred orange cones.