no, i’m not exactly talking about baseball (though it does figure in here). i’m talking about the american assumption that the world ought to bend for you, that rules apply to everyone but yourself. this is not criticizing folks who really deserve a leg up – i fully support every effort made to level the playing field so that they get the same opportunity as everyone else.
no, i’m talking about all those people who get annoyed because they are in a particular stage of life (for example, parenthood) and feel their needs ought to always come first.
yesterday, we took BS out to the ballgame at RFK to see his beloved Phillies play against the Nationals as an early Father’s Day present. we bought one of those Family Four Pack thingies that includes tix, a drink, a hotdog, and chips for 4 and sat up in heaven. when you have fidgety kids, it’s a pretty good thing to sit way high up, as they spend more time looking for the cotton candy man and watching peanut shells sail down, down, down. if it hadn’t been so chilly; and if the Phillies hadn’t played like a bunch of geriatrics, it would have been perfect.
well, nearly, anyway.
we watched as a younger man dressed in a NY Yankees shirt pushed a stroller below us, folding it up and attempting to shove it between himself and the seat in front of him, then to the side of him, then the other side, and so on. i was waiting for the people around him to do more than just look on in annoyance, but i was also glad that there seemed to be no bloodshed around this event. “figures it’s a Yankee fan that brought a stroller to the ballpark,” BS groused. i mean, where the hell are you gonna park that thing once you’re there? they don’t have a special place for strollers at the stadium.
so i ask: what sort of person is either so stupid or so selfish that they wheel in a stroller to an arena? i have brought toddlers and babies into stadiums successfully — we’ve even taken public transport to the event — without a stroller. yes, it takes a little forethought. i have to pack diapers carefully so that i can balance them and the children, but i do it. rocket science it ain’t. ok, if it was a performance of the Vile purple Jurassic Entity or some Disney character, sure, I’d figure the place would have some designated place for strollers. but they don’t have that for baseball. should they? i guess they could. but knowing that they don’t, where do these genuises think they’ll stow these behemoths? in front of others who are trying to watch the game, of course. their needs are simply not as critical.
it’s as american as bush’s tax refund scheme.