peel bottles

I used to peel labels off bottles.  A lot of people do this, I've seen it quite a few times in my life, this destructive inclination.  It is not such a bad habit to have, though, probably better than smoking or biting your nails or having four bourbon and waters before dinner.  For some reason, I don't peel labels anymore.  I understand the impetus for such a habit; it is satisfying to feel the resistance of glue against your taut fingertips, to undress the bottle, to create two objects where before, there was only one.  Some people like to say that it's an act signifying sexual frustration.  Maybe this is true, I am not really sure.  

Personally, I do not feel any less sexually frustrated than when I was a bottle peeler.  Maybe I just don't care as much.  Now, when I get the urge to slip my fingernail under the plastic skirt of the bottle and slowly work my way further into the label overlap until I can feel the soft and sticky glue sealing the two pieces together, I simply stop.  It is no longer an unconscious action.  I realize what I am doing and stop myself.  It makes me feel calm, composed, in control of my mind and body.  I might fold the tiny plastic corner backwards, test the resiliency of the glue and then smooth the fold I just made back down in it's original place, like tucking a child back into bed after a nightmare.  Shhh, go back to sleep little label.  I am calm, I do not need you, I will not destroy you.