A Playground and a Carnival

Violence affects everyone.  Love is the way to help our brothers and sisters affected.

I was raised in California to two middle class parents. I had a good childhood except for the playground. I would get up in the morning with a sick stomach. My father and mother would greet me cheerfully and bring me the breakfast they had made.

“Ok it’s time for school,” they would say optimistically. They knew I dreaded school but they did not know why. During their childhoods, playgrounds were made safe with playground monitors who didn’t tolerate nonsense.

There were three rules to the playground:

-Dress and act like everyone else.

-Don’t be too smart or too dumb.

-Don’t ever draw attention to yourself.

Those who did not follow the rules were going to see bullying and harassment.

One time there was a new boy who came. He didn’t obey the rules. He had on foreign clothes and had an accent. He drew plenty of attention.

I remember one day in particular in June as classes were getting out, he was being harassed. The children pulled out some of his hair and tore his clothes. Then they dragged him to the sandbox and buried him. They thought they could dig him up but he was dead.  I still remember it as if it were yesterday. I didn’t say anything to help him.

Today I am going into my office at the toy company I work at. We don’t seem to get anywhere with our products. Today is another product idea presentation. It is Lydia again and the bosses hate her. There are many reasons. She dresses sloppy and her shirt is buttoned eschew.  Sometimes she wears two different shoes. She is a genius and gets her work done early in the day. The rest of the time, she stares into the ceiling.

Her idea is to have balls that bounce up and down on the ceiling.  They will be multicolored balls: red, orange, yellow, and green. She can see them in her mind’s eye bouncing around.

The bosses say that will never work.

Her next idea was a system of arms and legs that danced with you. You could tune it to many different styles of dancing including waltz, disco, salsa, two step.

She tries it on and it dances her around to the tune of “You Should be Dancing” by the Bee Gees. It looks silly but she is laughing while she is dancing and moving all over the floor of the office. People are looking her way. Some of them look intrigued. Then the three people who like her the least are jealous. They start laughing at her and messing up her steps. I feel nervous and nauseated. The flashback comes of the boy I didn’t save. I am getting angry at the bullies. The world is swirling around me.

I glance at Bryan the ex-Marine. He too is struggling. He is thinking of the battles with the enemy and he’s clenching his fist.

I look at my friend Ming and she shakes her head at me. Violence is not the answer.

I remember the words of the great man, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

Then Sonia speaks up.  “I like it!” she exclaims. I want to try it!  She gets it and makes it play “La Vida es un Carnaval” by Celia Cruz.

“Anyone that thinks that life is unfair

They really need to know it’s not like that

Life is a beautiful thing, we have to live it

Anyone that thinks they are alone and that it’s wrong

They really need to know it’s not like that

In this life there’s no one alone, there’s always Someone

You see, life is a carnival, and singing though it is lovely

You see, life is a carnival, and those sorrows disappear singing

You see, life is a carnival, and singing though it is lovely

You see, life is a carnival, and those sorrows disappear singing”

— La Vida es un Carnaval*

© Copyright 2025 by Cecile Bianco

*Daniel, V. (1998). La vida es un carnaval [Recorded by Celia Cruz]. On Mi vida es cantar [CD]. N.Y., N.Y., United States: RMM Records.

Translation of “La vida es un carnaval” found on https://www.letras.com/celia-cruz/9256/english.html#google_vignette

Ferris Wheel Image by Image by Harut Movsisyan https://pixabay.com

People dancing Photo by RDNE Stock project: https://www.pexels.com/photo/group-of-people-smiling-and-dancing-6173868/