What Are They Trying to Prove?

I am still attempting to analyze something that happened this week.  As I drove around a curve in the road there were two boys about age 10 playing in the middle of the road.  I stopped in time to avoid hitting them. One of them ran to the shoulder. The other walked slowly while staring at me in what appeared to be a defiant manner.

I eliminated the possibility that he was injured or had a health issue since he was running after a ball a few minutes earlier.  I considered that the sullen defiant expression just happened to be his neutral expression. Some folks always look happy, some angry and some sad. It’s just one of those accidents of genetics.  After he reached the yard he was so proud of himself.

I wanted to stop and ask him what he thinks he just proved. He proved my reflexes were sufficient to prevent my hitting him. He proved I was polite enough not to call him the names he deserved to be called and he proved he was stupid enough to play in traffic and he proved he doesn’t have the natural instinct to run when a large vehicle is moving towards him.

Then I noticed his parents or at least several adults were on the porch. They were laughing. Apparently they think he proved something also.

As far as I can see the only thing he proved other than bad manners and a poor attitude was that he is well on his way to a visit at a correctional facility. That is if someone with worse reflexes or a temper doesn’t remove him from the gene pool sooner.