THE PISA KING
The days that the King has nursery he and I walk the mile
route to the school. I love these walks (when he’s behaving of course,
otherwise it can be a very long mile); he often sings, we car and truck spot,
we talk about his teachers (well, let’s be honest, his heart shines for one of
them in a serious way and he tries to mention her as much as possible) and of late, he’s started playing a game where he leans forward or
sideways and pretends that he’s sleeping until I stop the pram, walk to the
front, and then he bursts out laughing.
Anyway, today it was freezing (so I was walking quickly and
wanting to get there already) and he was in the midst of doing his sideways
lean thing. A woman was walking with her friend coming towards
us. Suddenly, she was right in my face and said, ‘please sit him up.’ Just like that. I looked at her, of course taken aback, as did the King (no one but no one
interrupts his games) and said, ‘excuse me?' She repeated, ‘sit him up please,
you need to sit him up right now.’ Oh sister, are you really ordering a tired mother in the middle of a move who has been up since 4am to do something?
It didn’t take me long to remind her who actually
was in charge of the King and it was certainly NOT she. I then told her that
there was nothing wrong with my child (he just likes leaning alright!), on the
contrary he was in the middle of a game, and she should mind her own flipping
business. I left the last part out because to be honest, my insomnia often
means that my brain doesn’t work as fast as it should. Of course as soon as she
had walked away I told the King what I really thought of her invading our
personal space.
It of course got me thinking about how we as a culture
perhaps need to start minding our own business (in some areas of course; there
are other areas where I think we may need to pay more attention, but that’s
another blog for another day) just a tad more. Now, if there was something wrong with my child,
and this woman was concerned and wanted to ask me if he was okay, that’s one
thing. [Although what kind of mother would I be if I didn’t notice my child
falling out of his pushchair]. But to just walk up to a person and issue a
vehement order, I’m thinking that is something we need to quash immediately. Think about all the issues and arenas out there at the moment where
many people truly believe their opinions are not only tantamount to all else,
but it is their business (and god given right) to make it OUR business....Politics. Reproductive rights
(MY business not yours). Religion. Who we date and choose to marry (if you are
even granted that right). Seriously the list is so long it may induce a migraine.
In fact, wouldn’t it be so refreshing if everyone just kept
their eyes on their own page – there are the obvious exceptions that I’m
thinking don’t need mentioning – and just got on with it? You want to vote
Republican, carry a gun and not get an abortion. Fantastic. Go to it. And if
your neighbor wants to do the complete opposite, zip the lip people and let
them get on with it to.
And if the King wants to ride in his pram like the leaning
tower of Pisa, get the heck out of our path and let the kid have his fun.
Happy Friday.