But anger at the boy’s mother is not.
Here’s the thing, there are essentially two kinds of people in the world: people who default to trust and people who do not. I think the boy’s mother, like me, is in the first camp. I generally trust people, institutions, experts. That’s not to say I don’t try to educate myself and make informed decisions. But, for instance, when my daughter got croup and her pediatrician prescribed an antibiotic, I was cool with it. I didn’t question why she was given an antibiotic for a viral infection. I just thought, hey, this doctor whom I have a longstanding relationship with and who went to medical school and has been in practice for many years – she knows what’s up. Or, how when I was at the park with all three kids and kid #2 had to go to the bathroom, I let kid #1 (who is 9) watch kid #3 for the two and a half minutes it took me to run into the bathroom. I trusted that the smattering of parents wasn’t going to abduct my children or call the police on me. I trust schools, I trust coaches, I trust FDA guidelines, I trust vaccines, I trust height requirements at the amusement park.