Should've finished my sandwich at least

It was such a nice day the other day I decided to eat lunch in the park. Sitting there enjoying the sunshine, my sandwich, I was having a grand time. Until a young woman and a child of maybe four or five came. For some reason she sat on a bench near me rather than on the other side near the playground. He was plunked on the ground nearby and handed a soda-pop and a lollypop. She proceeded to ignore him and was scanning the park for something or someone. A few minutes later another woman came and sat beside the first. Both women continued to ignore the boy. I, on the other hand, had watching him more than anything else. He was quite restless yet, for the most part, was staying in the spot he’d been put. Wiggling around on his little butt, banging his lollypop on the side of the soda can and occasionally taking a drink or a lick. All the while giving looks over to the play area and the other children. Yup, that’s where he wanted to be, no doubt about it. And then he somehow managed to get his half-eaten lollypop into the soda can. The look of surprise on his face was almost funny. He put his little fingers in the hole trying to get it back out – no luck. He wrestled with the soda tab until it popped off and tried again – alas, still no joy in Mudville. Finally, he began to scream. The woman who had brought him, turned to him and simply stated, “Shut the ‘bleep’ up.” And returned to her conversation. Whoa, uncalled for. The poor little guy was in trouble here, help him out. At that point I almost walked the few short steps over there to take charge of the situation. But no. I just sat still and watched the drama before me as it continued to play out. The boy stopped crying instantly. Took one look at his can and did the only thing left to do. Turned it upside down and shook it over and over again. Completely covering himself with his soda but still not getting his lollypop back. All I could think is now this poor little guy was ant bait. You see, this park has lots of ant hills for those horrible fire ants and while he hopefully wasn’t sitting right on a hill, he was now covered head to toe in sugar. A few minutes later, the two women stopped chatting and stood up to leave. The first woman grabbed the boy’s hand without even seeming to notice he was wet. And off they went. Leaving me sitting there slack jawed, my half-eaten sandwich dangling from my fingers. In life there are so many times we are faced with impossible situations. Should we do nothing? Should we do something? Right? Left? Turn around? Did we go too far? Not far enough? Okay, fine, just jump off the cliff already! Because after all, isn’t some action better than no action? No? Yes? Maybe? Well, I don’t know. Which is why I was still sitting on that bench an hour later…