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conuly
Oh yeah, I don't know how I forgot. We were at the zoo, and I stopped to fill up my water bottle (I'd drunk it all, and barely sloshed some on 'dul. I was *really* thirsty all day today). At any rate, this was taking me ages, so I stopped to let a little girl go ahead of me. That's polite, right? And when her family notices, they start flipping out at her to "let the lady fill up her bottle" (they'd seen me filling it up before). WTF? Did they think I was being pushed around by a six year old? *glances down* I'm not all that small. Really. Poor kid was just accepting the yelling, too, which left me to explain that, no, really, I *offered* to let her go ahead of me because I was taking so damn long.
I don't know how I forgot to mention this in my earlier post. It really upset me. Put a damper on the whole day.
I don't know how I forgot to mention this in my earlier post. It really upset me. Put a damper on the whole day.
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no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 08:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 08:32 pm (UTC)I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do about parents who are clearly being cruel and unfair to their children in public, I always wonder that maybe there is a back story that justifies it. I'd hate to undermine the care of parents dealing with particularly difficult situations. For example, if I saw a child who was covered in bruises, I wouldn't want to glare at the parents - it doesn't indicate abuse, it could be a medical condition or the child may have recently been in an accident. They have enough to deal with without having to justify themselves every time they go out.
But sometimes it just seems pretty clear that the parents are being mean. So, I think I've come to the conclusion that it's important to send the message that not everyone approves of that and that not everyone supports the parents. It won't fix child abuse, of course, but at least knowing that someone thinks it's wrong and not your fault or that you've been bad might help a little. And I feel bad for the times when I didn't know if I should speak up, and I think I'd rather feel bad for speaking up than for not.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 08:45 pm (UTC)Hey, if you're on could you get on AIM? I want to speak with you. I'll be on til like... 11:15 my time.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 08:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 08:32 pm (UTC)I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do about parents who are clearly being cruel and unfair to their children in public, I always wonder that maybe there is a back story that justifies it. I'd hate to undermine the care of parents dealing with particularly difficult situations. For example, if I saw a child who was covered in bruises, I wouldn't want to glare at the parents - it doesn't indicate abuse, it could be a medical condition or the child may have recently been in an accident. They have enough to deal with without having to justify themselves every time they go out.
But sometimes it just seems pretty clear that the parents are being mean. So, I think I've come to the conclusion that it's important to send the message that not everyone approves of that and that not everyone supports the parents. It won't fix child abuse, of course, but at least knowing that someone thinks it's wrong and not your fault or that you've been bad might help a little. And I feel bad for the times when I didn't know if I should speak up, and I think I'd rather feel bad for speaking up than for not.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 08:45 pm (UTC)Hey, if you're on could you get on AIM? I want to speak with you. I'll be on til like... 11:15 my time.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 09:14 pm (UTC)