Originally Posted By: Jeff_McCann
Originally Posted By: jaywalke
I don't doubt this is true, or even necessary (in an evolutionary sense), but it's things like this that make me avoid children in public. . . . Accidents happen, especially to kids, who can be little Houdinis and Indiana Joneses as they explore their surroundings without fear. Most of the time it turns out fine, and probably every one of us has the minor scars to prove it. Sometimes it doesn't, and that is a tragedy, but not always a crime.


I agree. I remember being out walking the dogs and finding a neighborhood child of about three years age standing in the middle of the road at about 10 pm on a cold night in my dark, semi-rural neighborhood, about a block from my house. I knew which house was hers, but I'd never met the parents.

I am usually quite decisive, but I recall a feeling of confusion and slight panic, not wanting to come within 10 feet of the little girl, lest the parents choose that moment to come bursting forth, and mistake me for a child-stealing pervert.


This seems like it's caused by our litigious and suspicious society. You don't want to be near the child for fear of what? Being accused of doing something, I guess. I understand that having received a suspcious look when noticing what seems to be a child left alone and asking. DW rouses less suspicion.

I also felt it once when I found an elderly woman who had fallen on an NYC sidewalk. I helped her, but was real glad when I got away from her without her knowing my name.

It might also be making our society more vulnerable, by isolating us from each other. Humans survive in communities.


Edited by Dan_McI (12/19/08 08:10 PM)