I recently spent a small amount of time at a little persons birthday party and some time watching the Weetbix triathlon…for little people.
It was probably the most depressing thing i could have done. Spending the afternoon with religious people would be more entertaining as at least i could reveal the dark desperate ideas that they try soo hard to compress down.
But what i did do was spend some time with a little person who was turning five and their proud parents and grandparents. I left as soon as other parents began turning up and more little people began arriving. The gap between parents of any nature and someone like me is a world apart. They have filled their biological yearning to procreate and will spend the next few decades either wishing they never had or excitedly watching their little person grow up in the hope they will be someone in a world filled of nobodies.
They will not understand the responsibility of their actions to introduce a human into the world that will have to deal with the desperate end of childhood when they realize they will die. From then on in the game becomes about creating a paradox that “lightens the load” of the mental burden that must be endured as a species that has moved away from nature, never to return.
Maybe if they took their “little person” into a mall and “disappeared” leaving them to their own devices, what do you think would happen??
Would they end up crying in the corner????
Or would they make the distinction of physical reactions to terror and the fact that they need to remain relaxed to get out of a bad situation.
If they heard their description being called out over the intercom would they be annoyed that they couldn’t make it back by themselves.
For here is a task that separates the individuals from the herd, the ability to remain calm at the age of four, when in a city mall, the little person has gone the wrong way, up an escalator and into a dept store, only to find themselves lost.
When reunited all Ma was able to say was “stay with us” a look of coldness in her eyes, maybe she was disappointed that my reaction was not to be expected.
But then who can guarantee the right reaction will be produced.