An Observation

We sell calendars at the bookstore. Some of these calendars are the type that have beautiful flowers or famous celebrities, but some are the type that show women who are not wearing a lot of clothing...maybe one piece...maybe none. These are also the calendars that the plastic has been ripped off so that the buyer can see what they might be buying. Of course, they never buy the calendar. They just want to look at it.

So, yesterday, as I was walking by the calendar section that is right next to the Children's Department...yes, that is disturbing in itself... I found a young girl entranced in the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders calendar. She just stared at this calendar. She glanced around her to check if anyone was going to move the calendar. It was if she knew that this calendar should not be where it was on display...facing the Children's Department. She continued to stare at it as if she was seeing an adult female body for the first time. This girl was about eight or nine years old. Finally, she ran to her mom who was busy browsing the travel section. She pointed to the calendar and her mom didn't even look up to see what she was talking about. So, the girl ran back to stare at the front of the calendar again...for about five more minutes.

Funny how she was so close to thousands of children's books and she chose to stare at the lingerie calendar of the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders. It was like we were giving her permission to do something that she had a feeling she wasn't supposed to look at. I am not a prude and I am not against these types of nudity, but maybe we should put some sort of proximity between innocence and the other stuff.