This morning, outside St. Ned's Nursery School, drop-off time.
We open on a small child, whipping the trees and plants with a length of rope.
Sexton Dennis, who is responsible for said plants, sees this.
Sexton Dennis: Please don't hurt the plants.
Child continues to hit plants. Sexton Dennis does a few things around the courtyard, then comes back.
SD: Stop hurting the plants now.
Asshat Parent, who has been ignoring the actions of her child, now runs over.
Asshat Parent: People like YOU shouldn't be talking to my child.
[Sexton Dennis then delivers a righteous smackdown, including:]
SD: Would you let your child do this in your front yard?
AP: Uh, no...
SD: Well, this is my front yard. It's hundreds of people's front yard, and your child doesn't get to destroy it.
Asshat Parent does not apologize. Not surprisingly.
Sexton Dennis is somewhat emboldened by this, and notices that another parent - let's call him Asshat Parent #2 - is there with two children who are throwing trash on the ground.
SD: Could you please ask your children to pick up that trash?
Asshat Parent #2: Isn't that for people like you to do?
SD: Maybe if you don't care what kind of people your kids grow up to be.
[Following Righteous Smackdown #2, Asshat Parent #2 picks up the trash instead of getting the kids to do it. Which means his children will probably still become asshats of the future, but at least it's something.]
This kind of thing is quite typical with the nursery school parents. Parishioners who send their kids to the school know Dennis, so they're cool and chat with him and generally treat him like a human being. He's pretty much invisible to the rest, unless he's in their way somehow, or unless they need someone to carry something for them. St. Ned's is just another paid service provider to cater to their needs.
It's kind of fun to be part of the servant class sometimes; you get to see things in a different way, and see people as they really are. It can also, of course, be really fucking depressing when you realize that most people don't see their own elitism and giant sense of entitlement as a stumbling block to be overcome.
It's going to take all different kinds of people to build the kingdom, and some of them are going to be in charge of the celestial garbage and printing up the angel's hymnbooks (ideally this will not be me, as I won't be able to resist making certain, uh, edits for my own amusement).
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