A woman brought a little boy to my door just now. The boy was about four years old. He was dressed to the nines – dress pants, vest, tie. He asked me if, with all the earthquakes and disasters, I thought the world would survive. I said it would. Then he opened a small Bible and started reading (at his age, that, at least, was impressive) while the woman kept smiling and looking on approvingly. I stopped the boy, like I was Simon Cowell at a Britain’s Got Talent audition. I said to him, “Down at the end of the next street, there is a playground. It has slides and swings. That is where you should be.” The woman said, well yes, but this is what our family has to do. I told her that was too bad. She said, but we have our times (when we go to playgrounds, I guess). I said, well, at his age, that should be all the time. She said have a nice day. I said I wish you could have one too. If you need to be a religious fanatic and badger me about the end of the world, I guess I can’t stop you. But in my, perhaps too cynical view, it is so sad to see a little boy ensnared in such insanity.
©2015 Jim Hagarty
