Yesterday, as I stepped out of the elevator on the atrium level of my building, I turned left. Simultaneously, a woman and a child exited the elevator next to mine and walked ahead of me in the same direction, heading towards the main corridor. Almost immediately, I could hear the woman engaged in a heated phone conversation with her ex-husband. She angrily exclaimed, “You can’t be late to pick up our kid and waste my time by having him stay at my place because you’re late.” She abruptly ended the call.

As we approached the next set of doors, the woman turned her attention to the child and started blaming him for his dad’s lateness. It was clear from the child’s distressed voice that he was trying to defend himself and explain that he hadn’t done anything wrong. The mother continued to insist by yelling, “You have to tell your father to stop being late,” and the poor child nodded in response. They went left, while I went right down the corridor.

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the child, realizing that experiences like this could leave lasting emotional scars. It reminded me of how some people create human beings for their own personal enjoyment and then turn around and use them as a weapon.

Selfish fucking assholes.