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55
Subway Jazz
On the subway platform, a little girl was entertaining her
younger brother in a stroller. She was trotting in a dance-
like manner, made figures and turns. The boy watched
amused and licked a red lollipop. Their mother dressed in
tight jeans and with huge headphones over her ears, leaned
against the stroller, swinging her body.
The train arrived. The woman grabbed her daughter’s hand
and just as she pushed the stroller inside the car, the
lollipop fell out of the toddler’s hand onto the tracks.
Instantly the boy started screaming. The mother did not
respond. She sat her daughter next to her. The boy cried
more and more. Dozing off passengers were opening their
tired eyes. The mother, with listening, slightly absent eyes,
raised her warning finger to the child to calm down, to no
avail.
“Digital generation,” remarked a lady to another lady, with
disapproval.
“Today people do not fight for anything. Especially
manners,” reacted an elderly lady in a Sherlock Holmes hat.
“Kids are treated like adults, and from adults you expect
less than from children.”