It never happened - one of life’s lessons missed

I was standing next to my service truck at the completion of a job a while ago when a purple PT Cruiser pulled up along side. A little girl, grammar school age, let her door swing out wide, just enough to let it brush against the gas cap cover on my truck leaving a small mark. It wasn’t intentional; but it could have been avoided with the simplest efforts.

“Please be more careful in the future.”, I quietly mentioned to the young girl who was hesitant to look me in the face as she pulled the door away from my truck.

“I’m sorry, Sir.” She walked toward the store and that should have been the end of it. There was no lasting damage; a little rubbing compound and some wax would make it a non-event. I was about to get in my truck and drive off when I noticed a rather large and unfriendly woman rushing around to see why I had entered a conversation with the young girl.

Her mother, (presumed), came around from the driver’s side in a confrontational manner, examined the mark; “That was there before; you can see there’s no purple paint!”, as if the thud she heard came from some other door somewhere close by. I can understand defending your children from the dangers of the world or even being taken advantage of by a total stranger, much less from a person of a different race; but wouldn’t it have been better for the young person to take responsibility for her actions and grow from that experience?

The young girl now has to wonder, “Did it really happen; after all, I thought I saw the door swing open and hit the man’s truck, it did make a sound and I did say I’m sorry.” Now that little girl has been shown that if you make a big fuss, try to intimidate the other person that it somehow never happened; “It’s not my fault.”

What kind of lesson was taught this day? Maybe next time the damage will be more significant; which also makes me wonder if that little girl got the snot beat out of her later on for creating a situation which might not have been so easily pushed aside. The young girl may not consider that there are consequences for acting irresponsibly; even something as simple as maintaining control of the car door while exiting or entering, just look at the little cankers on car doors caused in parking lots by folks who could care less. A grown up showed her that all you have to do is deny, deny and deny more loudly and it never happened; what a shame.