Common Courtesy Not So Common

Short trip into a department store this afternoon where a young boy--maybe twelve years old--stood, sizing me up. Up and down. When I smiled and spoke he ran away but continued to turn and stare. Then I heard him say to a man, no more than 15 feet from me, "Dad, there's a lady over there that I'm as tall as!" Instead of shushing the child, the father did a full-body turn so he, too, could see me in all my four foot, eleven-ness. Without turning to make eye contact, I said, "You know, I can hear you." And they both disappeared.
But my story doesn't end there. As I left the department store, I stopped at the mall's large outdoor Koi pond to watch the fish. Across the pond, about a half dozen kids were poking the fish with sticks and then I saw one of them throw in a fish that he'd apparently picked up; the fish floated to the top and was clearly struggling to swim again. Seems it's tail had been ripped. So bright kid leaned down to pick up the fish AGAIN when an older woman standing next to him, a stranger, told him not to touch it. Meanwhile, bright kid's mother was sitting behind him on her cell phone, unconcerned. Today, I was reminded that not everyone is cut out for parenthood.