little kids and pigeons

Of course I’ve seen little kids chase pigeons thousands of times. But only today, sitting in the Jardin du Luxembourg and observing mass harassment of the birds by the coming generation, did I realize that it’s pretty much universal. I tried to observe any girl or boy between about ages 2-6 who left the birds alone, and I failed to find any such cases. They all mercilessly hunted down every pigeon in the vicinity, spreading terror.

I don’t remember doing this myself, but why would I remember it? It’s surely a collective guilt weighing on all of us from our earliest years.