Little Red Riding Hood with her Lunch, Math Homework, & Bullet Proof School Bag!…
Stationary stores share a common vibe with candy stores. Both are characteristically designed to be feel good places; fun, relaxing, even bordering on therapeutic… places where no matter what your numerical age; your religious, cultural, philosophical, or political views & values, you temporarily get induced into a lighter hearted state.
To be walking around aisle upon aisle of paper, pencils, pens, pins, folders, & files of all imaginable colors, sizes, & styles, does something to every child; & adult. It subconsciously seems to stimulate, in most of us, an understated, unexplained, yet undeniable sense of joy, & simple excitement… pure, creative, & childlike. Perhaps the sights, smells, & scents beckon the inner child; remind of that natural, naive, pre unconditioned painter; explorer; writer; inventor; ruminator of yore…& to all that continues to stay pure, unadulterated, & innocent inside us; no matter how long forgotten, or disassociated with.
In such a mood, few days back, at the local outlet of a famous stationary chain, I turned a colorful corner, only to be rudely shook out of that happy moment of stationary shopping for my kid- by something, that was not childlike, nor appealed to anything inside me that was.
It was a “bullet resistant” school bag, with “life time warranty”! In shocking Pink!…
It sold protection like an umbrella would, from rain; or a coat, from the cold… To me it felt deceptive, cunning, & unnatural; disguised to appear happy, safe, loving; reminding me of the wolf in Grandma’s clothing in ‘Little Red Riding Hood’.
The Pink bag had counterparts in Green too. They all hung there, trying hard to fit into the ambience with a manufactured ease; feigning brightness, & a childlike solution to a cold, adult issue. Only, this solution lacked any childlike innocence. The bags seemed desperate to create an air of casualness, like it was the most natural thing for them to be there at a ‘Back to School’ promotion, along with rulers; erasers; & crayons.
It didn’t work. Not for me. They had disturbed my sense of harmony. They felt stark reminders of the stubborn & subtle desensitization to casual gun possession & violence, being repeatedly woven in our lives; of the clinical, commercial, cold attempt to shift the narrative from one of unambiguously tackling the root of the issue to one of normalizing the issue.
For a few moments, I felt unsure if what I saw was even real! To me, the product was vulgarly out of place; & sickeningly distasteful. It was as if the cold tentacles of that ‘trivializing the trigger’ part of the US, & everything else which it makes thrive, had reached my safe; normal; urbane neighborhood…
Is it bullet resistant? Does that matter?
I wonder how sane I would be, if I could cheerily send off my child for an education, saying; “Sweetie, don’t forget your lunch, your homework, & here’s your new amazing bulletproof bag! Have a great day at school! …”
