by Bee Gees Fan » Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:52 pm
Oh, I agree it's weird. I just meant that he hasn't done anything wrong in a moral or illegal sense. He made an honest mistake (albeit a pretty big one!) and failed to realise that the child he had with him was not his granddaughter. He didn't have sinister intentions of making off with an unknown young child. He was there for a legitimate reason (to collect his granddaughter) and didn't realise that he had the wrong girl.
At least no harm has come. The little girl was apparently confused at the time, but apart from that, things are as normal with her. I think this whole situation is an example of just how significant human errors can be. Fortunately, in this case, there were no awful consequences.
Actually, I've just remembered an incident from my own childhood (I was about 8 at the time.) My grandmother was at our house (she would have been about 85 then) and some girls who lived in our street had come around to play. They were introduced to my grandmother. Shortly afterwards, I went upstairs to have a shower, leaving my sister t play with the girls. When I returned downstairs, my grandmother asked me, "Are you their sister?" (meaning, was I the sister of the girls from next door.)
I was surprised (in an amused way) for a second and then said something like, "Grandma, it's me, Michelle!"
So, it can happen (not recognising your own family/grandchildren.) Why it happened in this gentleman's case is something we can only speculate on. The poor eyesight might be part of it. Perhaps he has other conditions/ailments as well. Perhaps he doesn't spend a lot of time with his granddaughter, or it had been a while since he'd last seen her.
I suppose the upshot of it is that the parents will think hard before giving him such responsibilities in the future.
"How to possess truth, know beauty and discover harmony through love. How to...reconcile ones-self to time: which will kill us all in the end...how to get there in time for the happy ending." Justin Wand
http://www.berkanapath.com