Control Those Rugrats

I dimed on two kids today. A part of me felt bad, for about a second; then I got over it real quick.

Here in Inwood there's a strong Native American community, I assume/guess because it's one of the (if not the only) last remaining natural areas in Manhattan. Story has it that the area of Inwood Hill Park is where Manhattan was sold to the Dutch, and the hilly area still holds caves once used by the Lenape tribe, among others.

Anyway. Today was a festival of sorts call Drums Along the Hudson, a celebration of Native American heritage as well as a tribute to all native/indigenous peoples. The weather was absolutely fantastic, and it was a great day to be out in the park reconnecting with Mother Earth.

So here I am, sitting by the riverside with a friend when along comes Hansel and Gretel. Hansel whips out a slingshot and exlaims, happily, "Look I'll get another one!" - and proceeds to shoot a pebble at the ducks in the water while his sister giggles with malicious glee.

Of course I called them on it. "Hey, quit shooting at the ducks!" Little bastards totally ignored me, and of course there's no parent in sight. But...there is a park ranger, walking by totally oblivious to Damien and his sister Lilith.

I call out to her, and tell her these kids are shooting at the ducks. She gives me this condescending look - the kids are blond, fair skinned...and here I am looking like Anton LeVey's protege in goth/tribal denim. "I haven't seen them do anything..." she begins.

Then freezes mid-sentence as the Demon Princess pulls back on the slingshot for a power shot. "Hey you kids!" she shouts, rushing over to scold them on the wrongness of their actions. I even heard the little monster tell her "Well some other kids were shooting at the birds in the sky", like that excused him for shooting at the ducks in the water.

She did give them a decent lecture, which I was glad to see. She also made a point of avoiding my eye as she walked off, realizing how close she came to sounding like a judgemental moron by blowing me off.

But parents. What do you really think your kids are going to do with a slingshot when you buy it for them, hmmm? Line up coke bottles on the picket fence in their backyard? Use some common sense, people; sheesh.