Miniature People

Watching the little 1st graders was quite an experience. They were so cute and just as I expected, I think I made some little friends here and there. It's not hard to please little guys like that.

I didn't particularly enjoy every part of the experience. Somehow, walking on a school campus not knowing anybody there gave me flashbacks from the few times in childhood when I was the new kid in school. I hated the feeling then and I guess all these years later that anxiety stuck around till now.

Anyway, the kids themselves were great. It takes about 5 mins of observation to see which ones are the talkative kids, the popular kids, the quiet ones, the bratty ones, the teacher's pet, etc. I guess all my classroom social skills are still in tact too!

I had a lot of "OOOOH! You're so tall!", "Can you touch the roof of the bus?...OOOH!", "How old are you...are you 100?", "You are 12!", "Can you sit next to me?", "Is your name Mr. Rap like Mr. Rapper!?", on and on... Imagine all those questions all at once.

I got a few "Mmslaogh soaoa aoonaogo". Some of the kids wanted to tell me something but they were so shy and quiet I didn't hear a thing. I felt like all my years of playing loud music must have fried a few ear receptors because I was like the deaf old guy. The usual response then was usually "Uh huh..... yeah.....uh huh"

Are they still snooty little dirt balls? Of course! I saw more then a few kids coughing and sneezing, rubbing their noses, sticking hands down their pants scratching their arses, etc. I think to myself, "And I'm going to hold their hands?! No way!"

But nonetheless I have to say I enjoyed watching the group of youngsters again. They were so easy to please. Remember when we were young and one of the biggest events on a field trip was busting out our sack lunches? What did mom and dad pack for us?

Sack lunch contents played a big role in the social event. First, the worse was when you forgot lunch entirely. That was a traumatic event, you get dropped off at school and then it hits you that every other kid in class has their lunch and you don't. You feel like the biggest loser. You're the one that ends up getting charity items from the other kids in class.

You might have been the kid who had the parent who packed the "asian" meal. Some of you probably know what I'm talking about. There was a enough food for you, but somehow these were things that were just a little different from all the other kid's lunches and sometimes a big inconvenient to bring for lunch too. You'd get a big piece of grapefruit, some kind of mystery musubi made out of yesterday's leftovers, or some kind of soup thing with a big spoon.

On occasion, you might end up being one of the cool kids. Cool kids had something in their lunches that everyone wanted. Maybe you had those crackers with the cheese spreads. Or you had a big package of fruit roll-ups, or M&Ms. THAT was special. Not necessarily because those items were good to eat, but they were instant bargaining & social tools.

First you can walk around to the other kids and go "SEE? Look what I got!" and swing them around like you suddenly struck gold. If you're "lucky" you strike up the vultures. "I want!" "Me first!", "I'm your friend!" Soon you'll get a trail of kids following you around like a pack of leeches.

Then you go around passing these things out to those you think deserve that precious M&M. Like you're the king endowing his subjects with gifts of wealth. Oh the benevolent king gives his best friends his M&Ms first even though they didn't ask for any, then he decides to give some to the beggars around him because they will worship him.

In this group of beggars there will be one or two leeches that the king doesn't quite like. But they're BIGGER. A wise king always saves one or two M&Ms to pay off the hulks.

I saw so much of this going on today while eating lunch. It brought back so much. It's amazing any one of us survives childhood.