Schoolyard Fights and the Status Quo

When a young student, I sometimes stood in the circle of after-school observers as disputes between aggrieved adversaries were settled with flaying fisticuffs. In most cases, there was little or no real damage beyond torn jeans and bruised egos. Usually the combatants rolled in the dirt until one party decided he had had enough and cried uncle. In point of fact, there was a winner and a loser. The