Dear Arse-Hat Young People,
Angry, that word hardly seems sufficient for how I am feeling right now. Your mean thoughtless abuse is responsible for breaking a little girl's heart, her confidence and her spirit.
What gives you the right to hurl abuse to someone sharing the walking path and open space with you. Someone who is not in your way, who you don't know, who has done nothing to impact upon your day other than be walking by you. When you yelled at her, swearing and scaring her, she was to frightened to walk to her destination and terrified to walk home because you had walked in that general direction, still yelling and swearing. In fact she was so frightened that she walked in the opposite direction until she felt safe enough to call me.
One of the first things you yelled at her was, "What's in your F%*^*ing stinking box?" Hopefully referring to the cardboard box she was ever so carefully carrying that contained a baby bird. The same baby bird that she found in the garage this morning, that she carefully shielded from the cats to give it a chance to survive the day today whilst she was at school. The bird that was ever so carefully placed upon a towel in the box to keep safe. The same bird that she and a friend walked up to the vets to find out if it was a native bird that needed protecting. It was, it was a Honey Eater.
The vet suggested that she find a garden with lots of native plants in it and place it in a shaded spot with a shallow basin of water next to it, to help keep it alive. The vet suggested that it might not survive but that would give it the best chance. Knowing that we don't have a garden she called a friend with a beautiful native garden to see if she could bring him over to live in their garden. It was on the short walk to their house that you yelled at her and frightened her. By the time she had the confidence to go home, talking to me on the phone the entire time, there was no time to take the bird elsewhere, her friends had gone out and she was expected to go out also. She left the baby bird in his box with water and flowers but when we returned he had died.
We now have a nearly inconsolable girl who not only grieving the loss of a bird that she believes that she didn't get the chance to protect properly, she feels that young people, young adults, are people to be wary of.
Whilst I am disgusted by your behaviour and that of your 2 friends for not pulling you in to line, I am so proud of my daughter. She would be less than half your age and she had the common sense to keep on walking, and to walk where she felt safe before calling for help. I am proud of her for being brave enough to keep her cool whilst terrified. I am also proud of her for talking to a police officer (a friend who is currently working in our normally lovely and safe community) and providing a thorough description of the people who scared her.
What I am most afraid of is that my confident beautiful girl will be less confident in what is essentially our back yard. I am concerned that she won't want to go out exploring, walking to visit friends and enjoying where we live. I am angry that I wasn't there to comfort her and I am angry that I have to console her. Basically I am [insert every swear word under the sun here] angry.
No regards,
A very sad and disappointed Mum
(thankfully not your mum)
Angry, that word hardly seems sufficient for how I am feeling right now. Your mean thoughtless abuse is responsible for breaking a little girl's heart, her confidence and her spirit.
What gives you the right to hurl abuse to someone sharing the walking path and open space with you. Someone who is not in your way, who you don't know, who has done nothing to impact upon your day other than be walking by you. When you yelled at her, swearing and scaring her, she was to frightened to walk to her destination and terrified to walk home because you had walked in that general direction, still yelling and swearing. In fact she was so frightened that she walked in the opposite direction until she felt safe enough to call me.
One of the first things you yelled at her was, "What's in your F%*^*ing stinking box?" Hopefully referring to the cardboard box she was ever so carefully carrying that contained a baby bird. The same baby bird that she found in the garage this morning, that she carefully shielded from the cats to give it a chance to survive the day today whilst she was at school. The bird that was ever so carefully placed upon a towel in the box to keep safe. The same bird that she and a friend walked up to the vets to find out if it was a native bird that needed protecting. It was, it was a Honey Eater.
The vet suggested that she find a garden with lots of native plants in it and place it in a shaded spot with a shallow basin of water next to it, to help keep it alive. The vet suggested that it might not survive but that would give it the best chance. Knowing that we don't have a garden she called a friend with a beautiful native garden to see if she could bring him over to live in their garden. It was on the short walk to their house that you yelled at her and frightened her. By the time she had the confidence to go home, talking to me on the phone the entire time, there was no time to take the bird elsewhere, her friends had gone out and she was expected to go out also. She left the baby bird in his box with water and flowers but when we returned he had died.
We now have a nearly inconsolable girl who not only grieving the loss of a bird that she believes that she didn't get the chance to protect properly, she feels that young people, young adults, are people to be wary of.
Whilst I am disgusted by your behaviour and that of your 2 friends for not pulling you in to line, I am so proud of my daughter. She would be less than half your age and she had the common sense to keep on walking, and to walk where she felt safe before calling for help. I am proud of her for being brave enough to keep her cool whilst terrified. I am also proud of her for talking to a police officer (a friend who is currently working in our normally lovely and safe community) and providing a thorough description of the people who scared her.
What I am most afraid of is that my confident beautiful girl will be less confident in what is essentially our back yard. I am concerned that she won't want to go out exploring, walking to visit friends and enjoying where we live. I am angry that I wasn't there to comfort her and I am angry that I have to console her. Basically I am [insert every swear word under the sun here] angry.
No regards,
A very sad and disappointed Mum
(thankfully not your mum)
