TGV and the Human Condition

Jeu de mots, Cote d'Azur, France

I am in the train with two of my teens. The TGV is whisking us from Paris to the Midi, and despite perfect conditions for relaxation (the aforementioned teenagers are profoundly jet-lagged and asleep; I am reading a very absorbing book and Cecile McLorin Salvant's celestial voice is coating my ear-budded cocoon) I am STILL partially attentive to the humans around me, especially the pint-sized ones.

In fact, the very absorbing book, a Memoir by Gary Shteyngart, has a perfectly applicable quote. Mr. Shteyngart, writes that individuals of artistic persuasion, including writers are "...[instruments] too finely set to the human condition..."

By the way, the book is throat grabbingly poignant and densely hilarious. It is chokeful of wonderful other quotes including: "Drafts, according to Russian medical lore, are the great silent killers."  For the record: drafts are condemned unfairly in many other cultures.

So... I can't help but witness the parent inadvertently wounding his little girl, a proud model of self-regulation, happily reading her pink little girl magazine. The mom has gone to the food wagon and dad is managing his increasingly tired and agitated toddler boy.  "I wannnnnt Sophie's (not the real name) maaaaaaagazine!!!!" he wails and gesticulates.  Sophie ignores her brother, as the tantrum spirit moves through him but the poor dad has had enough stimulation: "Sophie, share your magazine with Lucas", he intones, himself agitated. Sophie is indignant: just a couple years older than Lucas, she's been sooo good this entire long train ride and she is being picked on! by dad! And Lucas, of the monstrous tantrum, is being rewarded! Two minutes later, the toddler boy is calmly and triumphantly turning the pages of the little girl magazine, but really watching, fascinated, under his long eye lashes, his sister, a picture of silent martyrdom with tears streaming down her little cheeks. Soon Lucas is bored with unicorns and mermaids: "Here, Sophie. You can have this back", he says, magnanimously, happy with the world and his own generosity of spirit. The undignified snotty tantrum, more than 5 minutes in the past (about 2 months in toddler time) is long forgotten.  Sophie is no patsy. She angrily rejects the now sullied magazine. Sullied by the forced sharing with her capricious brother who, she clearly feels did not deserve it!  Etc...

All over the wagon, such scenes are playing out. Some are more charming and some far less....and my child-psychiatrist-who-likes-to-write brain is indeed, not much able to filter the human condition out...

Till Later,

Anne