Yesterday, I Saw A Most Frightening Thing

Yesterday I was a my usual work perch, when nothing very specific tod do, hoping to draw some customers into the shoe store. I was standing at the doorway facing the Rami Levy, when I noticed a young father putting the cutest little toddler into the seat of a shopping cart.

That would have been an enjoyable sight, except for the fact that in his mouth was a lit cigarette.

though I'm not much of an artist, I figured it would be easier to sketch something appropriate, than to google

I found the sight totally terrifying. It would have been just too easy for the man to bend just a little too close and burn the child's face or eye, Gd for bid. Since I, most surely, presumed that this was a very normal/usual position for them, I knew it would do no good to say anything. So I just rushed myself into the shoe store and tried to busy myself with some chore.

A few years ago, when taking a quick "break" in Rami Levy I noticed a young family, whose little kids were "amusing themselves" in the shopping cart while their parents shopped. And what were those adorable kids doing? They had plastic bags over their heads, given to them by their parents. That time, I did walk over and explain that plastic bags could kill/suffocate their children. One of the parents tried to argue with me, but the other looked concerned and took them away.

But I had no doubt that the smoking father would just tell me off for interfering. So, I said nothing. But I just had to blog it.

Terrifying

I thought I had seen everything. 

I've been among a crying crowd at a funeral for a baby who died when her totally over-tired sick father forget her in a car.  The sight of the chevra kaddisha (Jewish burial staff) emerging from the ambulance (we don't use hearses in Shiloh) carrying the dead baby in his arms elicited such a collective cry of grief... unforgettable.

I'm a survivor of a terror attack which left a couple dozen wounded, including myself, and one dead.

I once found myself waiting with neighbors, some dead and some alive, who had been in a horrific, tragic car accident.

I've spent time in the hospital praying for my sons, one after an accident and one who was deathly ill as a tiny infant.

I successfully, thank G-d, did Heimlich on my young son choking on an ice cube.

I could go on unfortunately...

But when I saw the toddler with her head fully enclosed in a plastic bag, while her parents happily shopped I could not be quiet.  I just had to speak to the parents.

"Excuse me, but it's very dangerous to pull plastic bags over a head like that."
"It's fine" insisted the young father.
"It can be fatal" I continued.  The father glared at me as the mother took the bag off of the child's head.  "There are countries that have Keep Away From Children on plastic bags."

picture credit

 

Then I continued on my way to use the amazingly well-kept WC's at Rami Levy Discount Supermarket.

Very Israeli! Is it "Only in Israel?"

What other countries in the world have this?

Not long after Israel stopped using glass milk bottles, the milk industry went to the other extreme and began marketing milk in plastic bags.  So we got these plastic containers for the bags.  You have to cut the corner of the bag to get the milk out.  I've seen people use scissors a knife and even their teeth.

Nowadays you have a choice in milk "containers."  Most stores still sell bagged milk; though our local store doesn't.  There are waxed cardboard containers and plastic "jugs" of milk, too.  Only the plastic is used for the lager quantities.  The reason our grocer (supermarket owner,) who also owns a couple of other large stores, hates the mess the bags make.  A percentage of bags always rip, making the storage area in refrigerator wet and smelly.