Community

You ever had that moment when your vision goes red? all you can feel is your hand shaking? And the people that you’re engaging with ceased to exist as individuals, but are there as targets?

No? Really? Just me?

So, I was at my regular monday morning play date. At my regular playground with my regular mom friend. This is the same playground where we teach our kids to introduce themselves to other kids, clean up trash, play well with others and share your toys. Because being kind, respectful and thoughtful is our number one goal.

This particular playground has a community center with bathrooms, storage and a kitchen. The community center is not always open, but a lot of Mondays it is. Some times there’s a 55+ line dancing class. A lot of Mondays the parks’ guy is there working, but not this morning. The woman that teaches the class was there with other women learning how to line dance. Our kids needed to use the bathrooms and can you believe non of the women would open the door for us? The kids had to pee, we knocked on the door, they saw us and these women took it upon themselves to deny the children of a bathroom that is public and was paid by tax payer money.

I got angry. First of all, it’s a public community center. It’s a community center for the neighborhood, by the playground. It belongs to the community. Who the f*** do those women think they are? Whatever problem they have, I’m sure it’s not my problem nor my to fix it. But they all thought to much of themselves. These women took it upon themselves to becomes owners of the center.

Our country has a booming aging population that’s living longer, with fewer people with enough financial resources to support themselves through their senior years. Less and less people are willing or able to spend time with their elderly relatives, and senior citizens neglect and abuse is a real growing problem in America. I’m not surprised. I don’t want to hang out with any of those women. One of the reason those programs for the elderly exist is to immerse the elderly population with the younger crowd, to build and unify the community. But these people don’t want to be part of the community. They behaved like we owed them something and we didn’t have the right to use a public building.

As soon as I got home, I called the park’s guy, because I have his cell phone number and I yelled at him. I don’t mean I questioned the program or the women, I screamed at him! I will be going back next Monday. I will call the parks guy before I leave my house, and I hope their class gets moved, or better yet, canceled. I don’t want to see them again. And I don’t feel bad about it.