Children in the river

Some children are bathing in the river that flows through a small village. They are not very old and they are bathing naked. An old lady calls the police to complain. The police come to the old lady and ask her to describe the situation. Together, the lady and the policeman go to the window of the lady’s apartment:

„Look, there they are! They’re bathing …. naked!“

„Yes,“ says the policeman to the nice lady, „that’s not how it works, if that bothers you. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to the kids.“

„Oh, that’s nice of you to do that, Mr. Constable. Thank you very much!“

The policeman leaves, smiles a little, he is a father himself, and goes to the river. There he found the children, who had already seen him coming and were getting dressed. Smiling, he approaches the children:

„It’s okay, it’s okay. Guess what? There’s an old woman back there who’s embarrassed to see you bathing naked. That didn’t used to be the case. Why don’t you go a little further up the river where you can bathe in peace and she won’t see you?“

A few days later, the old woman calls the police again, her voice breaking.

„They’re doing it again! Naked! In the river!“

The policeman gets on his patrol bike and rides to the old woman’s house again. She opens the door for him, her face already red. They go back to the window and she points. The policeman makes an effort, but he says, „I can’t see anything, where are the children bathing naked?“

„Over there, naked! I can see them clearly with my spyglass!“

_

I already asked ChatGBT, but she doesn’t know the story, I thought it was by Paul Watzlawick, but I can’t find any reference to it. It might be from „The Situation Is Hopeless, But Not Serious: The Pursuit of Unhappiness“ or so I thought. Anyway, I’ve had the story in my head for 40 years or more. Some stories do that and don’t ask if they can stay a while longer. This is also true of stories from my own life.

And what is this little story about? Maybe the knowledge that something unauthorized is happening. It’s not about seeing it in front of our eyes. It’s about the fact that the mere knowledge that it’s happening worries us. Even if it’s so far away that we need a spyglass to see it.

I think it’s nice that especially the policeman is generous with the law and treats the children lovingly. He doesn’t take the law too seriously, at least not in this little story.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m a policeman like that, or if I’m more often a very, very old woman with a spyglass.