With the Easter break off and the children back from school, the clear roads as opposed to the usual traffic jams are indeed a breath of fresh air.
However, this does not make up for the disturbing sight that caught my eye just the other day. There was this boy, seemingly in his mid-teens, carrying a bucket with some stuff to sell.
He had a couple of beverages, yeah, those sodas in plastic bottles. Now, what shocked me is that in some of the bottles, he had replaced the actual drink with water.
Please note that he had strategically placed his goodies right next to a children’s playground. It is no surprise that two children had naively already bought some of these things.
Anyway, my curiosity drew me closer to him. In me he saw a potential customer, so I asked for the price and he went on and on. I then put my focus on the water and guess what? He boldly gave me the price for that too.
At that point, I lost my cool and read him the “riot act” in the interest of the children that had been conned into this whole thing. The guy picked up his stuff and scattered, which proved to me that he knew he was in the wrong. God knows what was in that water!
For how long are we going to let some of these cases go unpunished and for how long are some parents going to be as careless as asking children to walk by themsevles and buy something to drink just like that?
I find it ridiculous. In my world, no matter how classy and secure a place might seem, one should never take any situation for granted and besides, once a child, always a child. After all, don’t we accompany them to these places to guide and protect them?
This strange boy for example was in a seemingly secure place, no one knew how he got there but he had conned children in my presence. I am certain by the time their parents had realised that they had bought fake water (if they did even) the damage had already been done.
I think we ought to grab the bull by the horns and see how best to kick some of these vices out as opposed to falling prey with our eyes wide open.