We view the world in stereotypes, without even realising it. And some truths we think we believe, need a little reinforcement.
It was this fine Saturday evening. I was out for a walk in the park where I saw young children playing cricket. From the walking perimeter I could see them all playing very enthusiastically, making childhood memories they would cherish forever. Two younger children suddenly approached the group and asked if they could join the game. The elder children waved them away, but the younger ones wouldn’t give up, and exasperated, one of the elder children threw a ball at them. Even as I was wondering why they would be bullying the little ones, I saw a brawl break out and the little ones ran to save themselves.
Shocked, I went forward to inquire why the elder kids had scared the younger ones away. The answers I got were appalling. Apparently, the younger kids were the offspring of the domestic help at one of the elder kid’s house, and so letting them touch their cricket equipment would spoil and contaminate it. When I tried to reason with them, I was condescendingly asked whether I was aware that it was important to play with kids of the same social stature. Stunned at such snobbery in kids so young, I walked out of the park to check on the younger kids.
The sight that met my eyes at once saddened me and made me smile. The two little ones had rolled discarded aluminium foil from a garbage can into a ball, and were batting away at it with a wooden plank. Their innocent, irrepressible spirit brought tears to my eyes. Leaving them to their game, I returned to the park to continue walking. Soon, the older kids stopped playing and I could hear them grumbling about something. It appeared they were dissatisfied with the bats they had, and the ball wasn’t any good either. So they wrapped up their game and got on their cycles, sulking about those as well, and rode off home.
The incident opened my eyes to the fact that children are capable of great snobbery and cruelty, and brougt home the barely believed truth that it takes more than wealth to be happy or raise happy children. Parents need to be careful of what values they are imparting to their kids, and what attitudes they are fostering in them. Fulfilling every material desire had given the elder kids a sense of entitlement and superiority, and in their susceptibility and impressionability they had begun to echo their parents’ snobbery. The poor kids on the other hand made the best of bad circumstances, and found their happiness in what the rich threw out as garbage. It really is up to grown ups to preserve the innocence and purity of the children around them. I hope we, as a society, realise this soon.
