I was at West Mall yesterday evening and got to witness a rather disturbing scene which I captured in the above photograph. A little girl was clinging to a woman, probably her mother, while a man who was probably her father stood nearby, carrying a thick cane which he held in a threatening manner, occasionally smacking the instrument against his trousers. The child had a terrified look on her face, from which I inferred that she had been caned before.
A picture often only shows part of the story. Perhaps the girl was a recalcitrant little terror who had racked so many acts of mischief to her name that her father was forced to carry a cane to discipline her. Even if that was true (and I intuitively doubt so), bringing a cane when the family goes to the mall strikes me as a rather extreme and unnecessary move. Looking at the little girl's terrified expression at the man's cane, nothing in the world can convince me that the man was doing the right thing.
The Sunday Essay will be resumed next week
