A playground bully, her victim, and their God
An incident in Germany reminded me who we all belong to.
It was a minor incident, but it stayed with me. We were in Germany to visit relatives, and one day as we explored the town of Annaberg in Saxony, my sons and their cousins found a playground and started playing with the other children there.
At some point, one of my sons climbed onto a rocking play animal. The girl who had been on the toy earlier now returned, climbed on it, and pushed him off. He began to wail. The girl’s father came over to ask her what happened. We overheard her saying, “Er gehört nicht zu uns.” “He doesn’t belong to us.” The father responded that they needed to leave in a few minutes.
A playground incident involving a child who is still learning to share is hardly noteworthy. My son wasn’t traumatized, and I try not to be judgmental of other parents’ choices. But this father’s decision not to challenge his daughter’s statement has stayed with me, mainly because of the way it resonated with so many other events in the world.
