Misunderstanding

When I was a small boy, we lived in Oklahoma. If I was five at the time, it hadn't been for long. My memories of the incident are few, but strong enough to properly convey the incident.

I remember that it was a wedding and all the participants were marching along with excitement. I held them each in my hand and marched them manually down the aisle with great enthusiasm. Only when my mother shouted at me in remonstrance did I have the first clue that I had done something wrong. The wedding-goers were cylindrical and rectangular blocks, and the aisle was the flat, wooden arm of a reclining chair. Each animated step had left the mark of its bearer in the polished wood of the chair. I probably tried to explain my position--and that in toddler vernacular--which might have been solid but for the power-distance between us. In any case, she emerged the victor and the wedding was over.

For years, whenever I would sit in that chair, I'd remember the incident as I fingered the angular and circular indentations. To this day, I feel the tinge of injustice. The obvious question is "Why worry your little head over a matter of such little consequence?" To me... the consequence is greater than what lies on the surface. The real consequence was never the immediate punishment or the bewildered shame I felt; it was the conveyance of the notion that "fair" is a relative term... that the one in power is right by virtue of his power alone.

I still have a hard time wrapping my head around that concept. Now, my Momma's the sweetest lady I know and I'll be the first to say it... but what does that say about the incident at-hand? What does that say about mankind?