For the most part I love living in our picturesque countryside village, but the hardest thing about living here is that so many people are overly subdued. Even though we lived here for two years in the beginning of the decade and moved back two years ago, we are still, by many, considered NEW. And NEW, for some reason, is synomynous with THREATENHING, or to say the least, HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS.
But, hey, I'm an adult; I can deal with small-mindedness. Either we end up being neighborly towards each other - or they all can continue to ignore my very presence - it's their call.
Why, however, must this banal attitude be passed on to the next generation - our kids? Today we found out that the 6-year-old down the street is having his birthday party. On our block there are 5 children in the same age group, who all attend the same kindergarten, my son included. When my son had his birthday party I made sure that all of the neighborhood kids were invited, since we all know that our first childhood friends were almost exclusively the kids who lived closest to us. Anyhow, the other kids were invited, just not my son.
His solution? "Mom, we can buy him a present, and I can bring it to him!" And I end up trying to explain why it doesn't work that way. And it breaks my heart.
Jag hör dig. Jag håller med. Fruktansvärt. Kram
ReplyDelete