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progRicky came back with a report of Trouble, at the local church he visited for Mass this morning. During "the Peace", the bit in the service where congregants take a moment to semi-ritualistically offer handshakes and say Peace! to their immediate neighbors in the pews, Ricky saw that a little girl near him seemed to be ignoring him, so he tapped her on the shoulder. This was apparently met with some disapproval.
I explained to him that he really shouldn't touch people he doesn't know, ever, to say nothing of touching children. He immediately got argumentative, starting with "It wasn't a touch, it was a tap," and he insisted on reconstructing the scene, with me role-playing the girl (and then receiving what I'd describe as a light, four-fingered flail on the shoulder). "I was treating her like I would my own daughter!" he finally said.
Ricky's thought-paths, and hence interactions with other people, will always be fractured, in ways like this.
Going downstairs to finish our Bezique game now, before I escort him back to the bus station. He's pretty steamed about this and muttering continuously about how nobody understands what "Peace" means any more. I'll just nod at this.
I explained to him that he really shouldn't touch people he doesn't know, ever, to say nothing of touching children. He immediately got argumentative, starting with "It wasn't a touch, it was a tap," and he insisted on reconstructing the scene, with me role-playing the girl (and then receiving what I'd describe as a light, four-fingered flail on the shoulder). "I was treating her like I would my own daughter!" he finally said.
Ricky's thought-paths, and hence interactions with other people, will always be fractured, in ways like this.
Going downstairs to finish our Bezique game now, before I escort him back to the bus station. He's pretty steamed about this and muttering continuously about how nobody understands what "Peace" means any more. I'll just nod at this.
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 02:37 pm (UTC)Some of us were shy kids but related to adults better than other kids. So I could understand the tendency to project what you would have wanted as a kid onto a kid who in any way reminds you of your (memory distorted) former self.
I try to avoid this, but I can see the source.