I work at a children's museum when I'm not delivering newspapers. Today, I was playing the Thai Elephant Orchestra cd in the Early Childhood Center at the museum, much to the interest of the visitors. I told a three year old boy with a painted face that the music on the cd wasn't made by humans, and asked him if he could guess who the musicians were. He was still thinking when his mother chimed in. "Children?" I looked up at her and pointed out the obvious. "Kids are people too." I could have been a bit more severe in my response, but if I actually said everything that came to mind, I wouldn't be employed long. Of course, the woman backpeddled and said something stupid like, "yeah, little people." No shit.
Most children look up to their parents as virtual gods. Parents have an answer for everything, and can fix anything (of course, we know that that attitude doesn't last forever...) It's a real shame that some of these same parents don't even see their children as human. What are they then? Complicated toys? Inconveniences? Status symbols? No wonder so many people grow up to be such basket cases. How can you act like a human being if you are given signals that you are somehow less?

cds I listened to later, while still shaking my head in disgust: Johan Hedin "Angel Archipelago", Cowboy Junkies "Radio One Sessions", Cop Shoot Cop "White Noise", Jan Garbarek Group "Twelve Moons", and Celtic Frost "To Mega Therion"

campingcampingcamping