A Letter

To the "guy" behind us in Friendly's tonight. (I say guy, because your actions didn't make you a man in my book.)

You were there with you son, who looked about 5, and maybe it was his mother, or your girlfriend, I couldn't tell the family dynamics. If that was his mother, she sure didn't stand up for him or protect him.

You made my dinner, which was supposed to be nice and easy-going, very tense. The entire hour (at least an hour we were there) you ragged on that poor child. You never let up, picked at everything he did, how he sat, how he ate, how he talked. You incessantly told him "I'm going to beat you". And asked him "do you want me to beat you?".

Not only did you say those things, but you swatted him several times with your hand on his head, arm, etc. You also pulled/twisted his ear and made it red.

It broke my heart. I felt so much for this small boy. If I hadn't been trying to divide my attention between my meal, my son, my companions, I would have thought harder and come up with something to say to you. Or at the very least I may have smiled genuinely at that little boy and told him how well behaved and quiet he really was. (there were other children screeching and running around terribly, your child was not doing any of those things.) But, unfortunately I didn't.

What I did do was to say a little prayer and ask God to give the boy a hug and watch out for him.

Sincerely,
A concerned citizen and parent.