What would you have done?



A child and mother are walking along the corridor between Union Station and the parking garage. The boy is struggling and wrestling to be free from his mother. He's about 6 years old and, when it suits him, allows himself to collapse on the floor, weighing his mother down. Pedestrians walking behind the couple, almost mow them down and trip over them.



The mother asks the child to behave and stop, then scolds him. He continues with renewed vengeance, alternating between striking his mother, screaming at the top of his lungs and pulling on her packages. The mother stops and spanks him on his bottom.



Suddenly, all eyes are upon the mother and child. Passersby stare - some of them glaring as if daring the mother to spank the child again. I watch the reaction of strangers, who are not privy to the mothers struggle yet, assume she is in the wrong and bad for disciplining HER child. Just as quickly, a security guard arrives to inquire the problem.



The mother begins explaining and is interrupted mid-sentence, by a passersby who informs security that the mother has hit the child. They're asked to step aside, off the path of pedestrian traffic, as I continue walking. It's said that it takes a village to raise a child. Would you have told?