Last Sunday I attended my son's sports festival at the school field. Tents were set up around the perimeter of the field. The sky was cloudy and we were intermittently hit with light showers. The event started at 8:30am but I found out later that parents would go to the school field and claim spots under the tents and in the gym for their families and friends by spreading out a picnic sheet. This being our first time attending at a big school (600+ students) we only went early enough to claim a spot in the gym for lunch. As the races began my daughter, wife and I found a spot between two tents. Being "between" two tents it was of course uncovered and vulnerable to rain when it fell. The spot was more of a strip of ground about a foot and a half wide at the front "V"ing out to about a yard wide at the back. We purchased a large picnic sheet from a local convenience store (large was the only size they had), folded it to fit the strip of ground and sat down. As we sat, we were very careful not to encroach on our close neighbors. It was fine for the morning session.
We had a fun lunch in the gym with all our family. Then my son raced off to get ready for the afternoon session. Just before 1pm we went to our little piece of land only to discover a wall of bags bordering our claim. We were literally walled off from our neighbors. Our neighbors put all their bags, baskets, backpacks, etc. on the edge of their sheets to block us from creeping into their space. The wall was erected during lunchtime. I was wondering... why? Why build the wall? Were we that bad a neighbor? The thing that really got me was the people were only sitting on a little more than half of their picnic sheet.
What happened to charity? What happened to kindness? What happened to basic human courtesy?
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