22 Responses to Through the Lookingglass

  1. Crystal February 21, 2014 at 9:17 am #

    Thought-provoking and beautiful.

  2. SKL February 21, 2014 at 9:43 am #

    Aww! Sweet and yes, by nature we can’t stand to see a child suffer.

    I see my kids thinking way ahead about what they can do to make littler kids happy. They will make a point to bring their special bear/doll for the tots to hold during gym class. Nobody ever told them to think about such things. It’s natural.

    Now how to stop certain grown-ups from trying to recast it as a perversion in our country….

  3. AnotherAnon February 21, 2014 at 10:02 am #

    OMG, am I the only one who cried?

  4. Susan February 21, 2014 at 10:05 am #

    Nope! I cried too 🙂

  5. marie February 21, 2014 at 10:10 am #

    Was it the shivering child who made you cry or the beautiful goodness of people around him? Anyone else notice that no one just snuggled up with an arm around him? That HAD to be the first impulse of some.

  6. Merrick February 21, 2014 at 10:25 am #

    Oh, I cried, too! What an absolutely lovely video!

  7. Susan February 21, 2014 at 10:27 am #

    I think it was mainly the people around him that gave him his coat. I needed to be reminded that people don’t suck.

  8. Neil M February 21, 2014 at 11:20 am #

    In my view, we should ALL have each other’s backs, all the time, and it’s good to see how many others agree!

  9. Jennifer February 21, 2014 at 11:29 am #

    Anyone notice it was mostly men who gave up their coats? And they are supposed to be so bad. And I did cry too….because people are still good.

  10. SOA February 21, 2014 at 12:03 pm #

    We think alike! I was going to send this to you.

    It shows that most adults are kind and watch out for kids they encounter.

  11. Papilio February 21, 2014 at 12:57 pm #

    The mere fact that you guys are always surprised and crying when people are *not* mean to each other is… concerning.

  12. SKL February 21, 2014 at 1:11 pm #

    Papilio, it’s a mom thing. Are you a mom?

    Tears are silly and natural – especially when it comes to nurturing children.

  13. Melissa February 21, 2014 at 1:38 pm #

    That totally brought tears to my eyes!

    though: none of them called the police, which is probably what would happen here in the US…

  14. Steve February 21, 2014 at 2:49 pm #

    Melissa said,

    “…though: none of them called the police, which is probably what would happen here in the US…”

    —–

    It would be interesting to set this up differently to see if busy- bodies would whip out their phones to call the police.

    Picture this:

    Have a “Dad” waiting with his small “daughter.” Dad wears a parka, scarf, and gloves, while his daughter wears only a thin sweater – no gloves, no scarf, no hat. The girl moves around a lot, playing, laughing. The Dad has the girl’s coat, scarf, and gloves with him. At intervals, he asks the child if she wants her coat or gloves, yet.

    There are so many ways a setup could be done to demonstrate interference by Non-parents who always know better.

  15. SKL February 21, 2014 at 4:44 pm #

    I dunno who would not consider that child old enough to put his own coat on. Calling the cops would be ridiculous even for most American busybodies. Has it ever happened with such a big kid over a coat?

    Now if the kid said “I don’t have a coat and I don’t have any place to go get warm because my parents kicked me out,” maybe.

  16. baby-paramedic February 21, 2014 at 8:36 pm #

    He said to one person his coat was stolen.

    It is much more free-range in Norway. I think my reaction would have been giving up warmth I could spare (that bare skin against the cold, I know Scandies keep telling me they are hardy folks, but that seems COLD!), then use that smart phone for good, by tracking down the school’s number. The boy might not have had the teacher’s number, but the school should have.

  17. Jessica February 21, 2014 at 9:28 pm #

    I totally cried – especially loved the ones that were sitting there with short sleeves so the kid could be warm.

  18. Kay February 21, 2014 at 10:36 pm #

    This was sweet, I cannot imagine any adult looking away from a freezing kid. But I just want to say please don’t think my kids don’t have a coat or are being neglected while I’m wearing one. They won’t wear one most of the time.

  19. Papilio February 22, 2014 at 1:24 pm #

    @SKL: Oh no – is that the explanation? And I’m such a crybaby already *without* kids… just not when people are just nice to each other without further drama.

    But indeed, now that you mention it, the ‘Oh my faith in humanity has been restored’ seems more general and the ‘Oh this made me cry’ does often involve at least one kid in one way or another…

  20. CATRIONA February 23, 2014 at 10:12 pm #

    It is such a lovely video and great that despite the paranoid over pedophiles that people including men still stepped in and helped. Sadly though the paranoid stops a lot of people as they don’t want people to get the “wrong idea”.

  21. Erin February 24, 2014 at 7:56 pm #

    That’s so lovely, all of those people taking their coats off and sitting there in short sleeves in the snow, just so the little boy could have a bit of warmth <3 It warms my heart to think that those people were so very kind to that little boy 🙂

  22. Amanda Matthews February 27, 2014 at 1:25 pm #

    “But I just want to say please don’t think my kids don’t have a coat or are being neglected while I’m wearing one.”

    Or if my kid just has a “thin” sweater. My kids wear wool and alpaca, which is much warmer than the puffy polyester coats that are popular in America…