Simply Amazing
The other day my children and I went out to the neighborhood park and we had the most amazing time ever. The park was full of familiar people that we knew from my children’s schools, the library, and the grocery store. Of course, there were people at the park that I had never seen before. After playing for most of the afternoon, we decided to rest on the grass and enjoy the park’s natural beauty. Well that did not last very long when a man’s voice interrupted the silence and asked: “May I use your cell phone, I need to call my wife?”. When I turned towards the man, I saw that his clothes were ragged and grass-stained and he appeared to be missing a hand. My son said: “Sure, Mr. Dwight. How is your daughter?”. Mr. Dwight said: “She’s fine, just back in town for spring break.” My son turned to me and winked to alleviate the look of confusion from my face. After making his phone call, Mr. Dwight was on his way. I was about to ask my twelve-year old what Mr. Dwight was doing in the park dressed as he was, but before I could, a loud woman with her dog in tow clenched my son by the arm and scolded him for encouraging “a hobo to approach residents of our fine community without fear” she then informed us that “people like him do not belong here” and said that she was on her way to report him to the local authorities. I approached the woman to collect my son from her grasp and was truly amazed at his response to her inflammatory statement. I stepped back as he asked her to kindly remove her hands from his arm. He then proceeded to enlighten her as to the fact that he was simply lending his cell phone to a neighbor that was gardening and had accidentally locked himself out; From the sewing room, his wife could not hear the doorbell. My son explained that he also helps Mr. Dwight with yard work every spring for the last 2 years. Subsequently, he pointed out that if her intent was to call the police, she might want to clean up the deposits her dog had left along the sidewalk and everywhere else in the park. The woman called my son a smart ass and informed that I should educate my children to have better manners when speaking to their elders. It was simply amazing to me that she had so quickly forgotten hers. (Hypocrisy anyone?) I just told her that I would try to do better. The fact that she was arrogent enough to judge without hesitation reinforced my belief that despite our supposed progress (socially, economically, culturally) we still do judge books by their covers.
Food for the mind,
Lilly Sway