Doll Parts.

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There was once a little girl.

Nothing special; you would pass by her without a second glance as she stares into the same shop window she has every day as the seasons change around her.

The businessmen on their cell phones yanking their too-tight ties around their necks

And the old, haggard homeless woman rearranging her shopping cart just as she has every morning pass by the little girl without noticing

Her chubby fingers pressed against the glass;

Fitting into the smudges they always make from the syrup residue of another pancake breakfast.

She’s staring at the doll in the window with a yearning she doesn’t understand. The doll is the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen and she’s never wanted anything more in her short years.

Shiny, plastic hair sparkles under the fluorescent display, glinting off porcelain eyes that see nothing.

The little girl knows that if she could just have that doll for her very own,

Then the world would fall into place around her and she could join the smiles that see past her every day.

Convinced that all the joy in life would belong to her if she could press that satin dress to her cheek and feel the soft, cool fabric against her skin.

With a sigh, she turns and clutches the straps of her bag tighter around her shoulders, trying not to trip on her shoelaces.

That much beauty will never belong to her and she will never belong in a world with dolls like that.

Dolls like that belong with the pretty girls who smile and giggle on the playground and that will never be her.

No, this little girl knows where she belongs;

In the corner sitting on the pavement with the cheap plastic doll Grandma gave her 3 Christmases ago.

It’s eyes glazed over with dirt and hair turned green from age.

This is the doll that she hates and will always hate because it’s the doll that belongs to her.

The Great Target ToyGate of 2015

pressroom.target.com

It’s generally my preference to stay out of politics. Don’t get me wrong; I have an opinion, I just don’t normally feel the need to mount my soapbox and stare out into the sea of voices echoing from atop the other boxes. However, the occasion for me to step atop my perch, clear my throat and scream, “Who the hell cares anyway?!” has come.

We all know Target has done away with gender labeling the toy department, which most people see as a good thing. Of course, since Americans are so deeply immersed in the two party system, not everyone agrees with this decision and just as usual, there’s outrage and boycotts afoot. Well I dare to ask, “Seriously, who cares?” They’re toys. Just toys. The same dolls and dinosaurs and robots that were around when we were kids and will continue to flood the market for what I suspect is many generations to come. Why must we keep toys segregated anyway? Shouldn’t we just let kids be kids and play with whatever the hell they want while they still can? Before they know it, they’ll be punching time clocks and signing rent checks and complaining about the cost of literally everything with the rest of us; why are we trying to limit their fun?

This also poses the question: aren’t there more important things we should be focused on? This is just another example of the media and the government working in tandem to keep us focused on the trivial bullshit they want to convince us is important to keep us from looking at the issues that actually make a difference. Personally, I’m less concerned about which isle I should shop in for a child’s birthday and more concerned with say, the frighteningly high cost of living, the rising cost of healthcare, the fact that more adults are living at home with their parents than have in decades simply because no one can afford to live on their own. What about education? How do we expect the next generation to run the country if we’re not willing to do everything we can to make sure they learn all there is to learn without worrying about cost? That’s why more and more teens are opting to not go to college; it’s not lack of desire for education, it’s lack of desire for insurmountable and soul crushing debt that will haunt them the rest of their lives. Who do we expect to cure diseases if no one can afford to get the right education to do so?

Aside from the pettiness of the whole “Toy Segregation Debate”, (dibs on the rights to “ToyGate”) shouldn’t it matter more what our children want versus what we want? I constantly hear parents talking about all the sacrifices they make so their kids can have a better life; well, wouldn’t letting go of your own selfish insecurities be beneficial for your kids? Why can’t your little girl play with robots? Robots are awesome, damnit! And what if playing with that robot encourages her to become a mechanical engineer and she designs the bionic hip replacement you’re bound to need one day? I kind of feel like that’s ‘win-win’ for everyone.

The moral of the argument is to calm the hell down. They’re just toys and kids should play with any damn toy they want as long as it makes them happy and teaches them to learn and grow and use their imagination. We all like happy kids; happy kids aren’t the ones screaming in the grocery store and throwing food in restaurants. Happy kids don’t run with bad crowds and hurt others or themselves; (I know this from personal experience) they’re too busy growing up to be amazing people destined to do amazing things. If you must, be outraged at the circus we call politics and start asking why the middle class as we know it is slowly becoming extinct.