Emancipate Your Pennies

Wondering what you can do to help the Penny Emancipation Coalition abolish circulation? Start by becoming better informed by researching the issue. Take a look at the provided links and then take matters into your own hands!

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What You Can Do

Perhaps the easiest way to emancipate a penny is to take it upon yourself to break the chain of tyranny and simply refuse to accept one from anyone.  We've all heard the phrase, "Keep the change."  The mantra of the modern penny abolitionist ought to be something like, "Keep the pennies." 

"Keep the Pennies"

But it's not always that easy.  To become a fully empowered penny abolitionist takes time and practice.  It's hard to tell a cashier to keep the pennies - she'll either be confused or annoyed by your odd behavior.  But don't worry!  The penny abolition movement will spread and someday the phrase, "Keep the pennies" will be so commonplace that it will become an assumption, and, on that day, the penny will be on the threshold of freedom.

If You Love Something, Flick it Away

Until then, there is an exercise that you can learn that will help you become detached emotionally and economically from the penny.  When dealing with a penny that has, for whatever reason, come into your posession, you must remember two things: 1) Do not spend it, and 2) Do not keep it.  And since the obvious conclusion is that the penny must be disposed of, here is one technique, called Penny Flicking. 

The process is described below¹:

1. Snap your fingers.  Got it?
2. Now position you fingers as if you're about to snap them (your middle finger will be squeazed up against the pad of your thumb) and hold them there.
3. Take up the penny you wish to emancipate in your other hand and wedge it right inbetween your thumb and middle finger, just barely enough so that it stays there. (Ironically, this technically makes you a penny-pincher for a second or two)
4. Your hand will be back by your ear, and you aim with your elbow.
5. Snap your fingers.

If done correctly, the penny will shoot away from you towards wherever your elbow was pointing.  I would personally recommend aiming your elbow at a nearby body of water, or over the edge of a cliff.  Perhaps into a fire, if nothing else is nearby.  Here's a short video clip demonstrating the flicking of a penny:

Common problems include trying to flick the penny with the wrist (the wrist should not move at all), and not having the arm completely folded back so that the flicking hand is near the flicker's ear.  If you're having problems, observe your form to see if one of these errors might be the cause.

¹My thanks go to Penny Abolitionist Keeri Hilp for her instructional lesson on proper penny flicking technique.