11 December 2007
On the bus to Brixton this morning, I had a bit of a Moment.
Standing there, cramped and hanging on for dear life, I looked down to see two pushchairs, side by side.
Kid a was white and kid b was black, and as I watched, kid a reached over and took kid b's hand, and they smiled at each other.
"Aww", I thought. "Two kids, having fun, together, with no thought to the differences between them. Tis the season for peace on earth and goodwill to all men, after all, and why shouldn't it extend to the children. Maybe there's hope for us after all."
... and out of nowhere, Whitney Houston started singing in my head. You know how the song goes.
Then the needle scratched the record, cutting Whitney off in her prime as I realised that kid a wasn't just being friendly. He was using kid b's hand to try and make him punch himself in the face, and when that didn't work, he instead slammed it repeatedly against the buggy tray, and when that didn't work, stood up and tried to smack him over the head and poke at his (very short) afro hair, which made kid b quite confused, then uncomfortable, then a bit scared.
As kid a looked to his mother for approval and kid b looked to his mother for help, both mothers continued staring out the window, lost to the commuter daze, and the cute christmas hope-for-all blog post that was being composed in my head as I watched took a rather darker, less inspirational turn.
I am sorry to hear that all hope for peace on earth was quickly lost. Now would you mind helping me out? (You know, if you're feeling a bit generous?) What is a pushcar?
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