Just Sayin'

I absolute have to get this one off my chest.

After class, most days, I walk from our building into the downtown area to catch my tram home. It's usually a nice walk with a classmate or two. Today, I arrived at what's called Jakominioplatz (Jakomini Square) which is the main hub for all the city buses and trams. While waiting for my bus, I hear a little boy yelling. I find him, about 2.5 years old, holding his mother's hand while loudly screaming "no" and other such little kid tantrum phrases. He stops yelling and out of NO where turns and kicks his big brother. The big brother is then yelled at. The little guy then turns and KICKS his big sister! I kid you not, the mother's response was, "Did he just kick you?" The daughter confirmed and then NOTHING happened next. Okay, so maybe she doesn't believe in disciplining her child in public (whether she speaks, spanks, or uses time outs, waiting till she arrived home would be absolutely unproductive in disciplining this child. He was WAY too young to remember for so long that he did something inappropriate, much less WHAT he did.). Alright, so that tram comes... at this point, I've been standing about a yard away, just watching and praying, "Lord, what do YOU see with this family?" He shows me his heart and his love for them. The tram arrives and on I go... this woman sits the youngest boy in the seat in front of me and stands at his side. The boy is staring out the window most of the way, but still yelling quite a bit. The mother gave the boy candy to keep him quiet for the bulk of the ride. So he finishes his candy and then, what does he do? HE SUCKS ON THE TRAM WINDOW FRAME! Seriously? I gag... a few times... and begin to contemplate getting off the tram 5 stops early and waiting for the next one, just then he stopped said sucking. THEN what do you think happened? HE LICKED THE WINDOW! I don't just mean one swipe, licked. I'm talking, his tongue licking the window and leaving shapes with his spit, sort of LICKING THE WINDOW! And the mother? Said nothing. Did nothing. And me? Gagging again. Seriously.

I'm not judging the mother. I refuse to do that. I'm not going to call him a "bad kid" because I don't believe in such a thing and I especially don't believe in saying such a thing. ALL I'm saying is... I'm just sayin'.