Damn

I couldn’t believe what I saw. My eyes must have become red with anger. A family got off the bus; a kid - 4 or 5 yrs old - stood ready to run; the dad said ‘Go!’ and the kid ran right across NE 8th street, an arterial road by my house… It is a 5 lane road and the kid, probably about 4 or 5 yrs old, ran right across it as if he was running in a park. The parents too ‘crossed’ the road right there on the main road. We jay-walk all the time - no big deal. But what kind of an idiot will let his child run across such a busy road?

I was totally pissed off. I walked up to him and said “You can get arrested for that, you know? Don’t ever do that, alright?” as harsh as I possibly can. I thought he will respond with a mind-ur-own-business kinda thing and I was ready to give him a full verbal lashing… But he looked apologetic and meekly said “okay”. I felt quixotic.

Last thing I saw of the family was, the kid ran to a bus and started climbing the steps. Then he turned to look at his father standing at a distance. The father calmly shook his head. The kid ran back to his father. Damn!