Rants & Essays

The Things Children Say

By Nicolai

I met the sweetest, most adorable little girl today. I was talking to a friend of mine, when I heard a small voice behind me say, and I quote because I'll never forget it, "Mommy, is that a boy or a girl?" A big of sadness came into my heart right then, as it always does when I'm dealing with ignorance (I despise the very word). I turned to see a very lovely lady with her daughter; a wonderful, cheery little girl who I later found out was named Cynthia. A smile came to my lips immediately, if only because of her cute, little face and her shy glances she kept throwing (her eyes were lowered) and the childish half-smile she herself displayed. Her mother moved to leave, apparently embarrassed (children do the most interesting things, no?), but she shook her head and said, "No, Mommy, I want to look at him. I think he looks pretty," and at this point she smiled openly at me. I was so captivated and moved that I offered to buy her and her mother lunch at a nearby restaurant, and we talked then, the four of us (my friend came with us), and I found out that the lady was married, and that she and her husband were both architects, and most importantly that Cynthia liked spaghetti. We parted on good terms, and we even exchanged addresses, so that me and Cynthia could write long (hers in crayon and mine in ink), poetry-filled (mostly on my part for her; sweet poems that a child would like) letters to each other. I was so incredibly touched by the whole experience that I had to share it with you. The moral: that society isn't always bad, and you should give it a chance before you get too defensive. I was defensive to start out with, and I almost lost my little friend because I didn't go into the encounter with an open mind.