Dirty Diapers

I know our country has degenerated into a state of complete of collective ignorance about children, but today’s experience really has to set a new low, even for the "it’s-all-about-the-children" devotees. While attempting to enjoy a relaxing day of window shopping on Fourth Street, a trendy mix of up-scale shops, galleries and restaurants in Berkeley, California, I noticed a woman had set her child down on a brand new piece of furniture, which was for sale in this particular shop’s window display and began to change the child’s diapers. The child was not placed on a towel or blanket set upon the furniture, rather he or she was simply plopped there, as though she were in her own living room. Not one person, even the employees of the shop, as far as I could tell at that point, said a thing. Or even took notice. I certainly think a ruckus would have ensued had a person sat down on that chair in muddy clothes, or perhaps began drawing a picture with Magic Markers using the chair as an easel, yet, somehow, it was ok for this woman to change a dirty diaper on the chair. And it wasn’t as if the chair was made of wood or plastic; it was covered in a silk fabric and the price tag dangling from the chair’s arm listed the chair for sale at $1,200.

My disgust with the entire scene is at many levels. First, how could this mother think this behavior as acceptable? Other than a life threatening situation requiring some sort of immediate action (has the Surgeon General announced a new finding that dirty diapers left unchanged for an additional two minutes will result in the a child’s death?), was there no bathroom in the store or in one of the thirty-odd stores in the immediate area? Did she drop in by helicopter and was, consequently, unable to go out to her car to change the baby? And even if you forget for a moment the vandalizing of someone else’s property, did she really think that everyone in that store wanted to see and smell her child’s soiled diaper? What would have happened (and may well have happened in this case, as I left before the action stopped) had she gotten her child’s product all over the chair? Would she have offered to pay for the chair? A $1,200 diaper change? Hardly, remember this is a women that thinks she is entitled to this specifically because it is her child involved. Would she have even notified the store manager of her destructive activity? Again, I have a hard time imagining that. In fact, given the look she gave me when she saw me noticing her furtive activities, I suspect that when she was finished she packed her things, placed the used diaper on the chair and resumed her shopping.