Humans are capable of a wide range of behaviors and emotions, sometimes too wide of a range. All behaviors have their time and place. What’s appropriate under one set of circumstances may be completely inappropriate under a different set of circumstances. Humans create laws and regulations to control these behaviors, but there’s a different, more subtle, set of controls under the surface. Norms and mores are seldom explicitly stated, and yet everybody implicitly knows and respects them. Or at least most people respect them. People like Darryl Schmitt do not respect them.

And why don’t the Darryls of the world respect them? I like to see the best in people, so I think about how all the laws, regulations, norms, and mores can restrict people in unnatural ways, and sometimes this causes people to act out in response. I like to think Darryls represent that acting out. But sometimes I think the cause is a lot less complicated. Sometimes Darryls simply do not understand all these rules, so technically they’re not even acting out. They’re simply being themselves, oftentimes with comical results. And then, unfortunately, there’s the dark side to human nature. Sometimes Darryls know full well all the rules of society, but they choose to disregard them, purely for malevolent reasons.

I think a more interesting question question is why does society tolerate this behavior? I think there’s a couple reasons. The first reason is a little complicated. No system of rules is perfect. Every system of rules contains loopholes and contradictions. Sometimes Darryls choose to exploit these loopholes, and they can’t be punished due to the contradictions. But there’s a second reason, one that I find much more amusing. Norms and mores are a powerful system of control. To violate them will cause someone to be ostracized and excluded from normal society. But that’s the extent of the punishment. If someone is willing to come to terms with this, and bold enough to continue violating society’s norms, then they can continue on, seemingly without consequence. It’s very difficult to hold people accountable to rules that are never explicitly stated.

Darryl isn’t real, but he is the amalgamation of multiple people I have known in real life. I’ve spent my life working in scientific research and engineering. Some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met have worked in these fields. They’re amazing because the have good values like hard work, intelligence, discipline, and open-mindedness. And these values persist because the culture of these fields encourages these values. But like all systems of values, there are loopholes that can be exploited. And Darryl loves exploiting these loopholes.

People like Darryl fascinate me. I’ve tried to understand the motivations for why they act the way they do. I understand the fundamental reasons, but I’m still clueless as to the motivations for each individual. When they do something crazy, is it due to overly restrictive rules, ignorance, or spite? Trying to understand the individual motivations of one of these people is like fighting a seven headed hydra. Good luck answering any of these questions, and even if you do, it will just generate more questions.

The Darryl Schmitt I write about is motivated less by malevolence, and more by a combination of acting out and sheer ignorance. Unfortunately, the Darryls I knew in real life tended to be the opposite. But Darryl Schmitt is supposed to be funny, and what’s funny about a malevolent person? Nothing, as far as I can tell. So I left out the malevolent parts. Here’s something to think about: the Darryl Schmitt I write about is based on real people. Some of these stories are fiction. But many are based on real events. So that means that when Darryl Schmitt acts out, no matter how outrageous his actions may be, it still represents the Darryls of the world when the are on their best behavior. Pretty crazy to think about, isn’t it?

Anyway, I’m rambling. The stories about Darryl aren’t a cohesive story. Instead, they’re a cohesive collection of stories. Taken together, I think they paint a good picture of what Darryl Schmitt is like. As you read these stories, I think you will begin to understand why I call him the man, the myth, the legend. He will captivate your attention, and when these stories inevitably get published and adapted to the big screen, he will captive the hearts and minds of tens of millions. Lucky you, you get to be among the first of these tens of millions.