Nothing

You restrain yourself and let the family walk away, watching the boy sulk as he stumbled along. Off to face the consequences of freedom.

You returned to the bench, watching the other children whisper to eachother after the event, clearly a little shaken. They went back to playing soon after, but you couldn't shake the feeling that something had to be extremely wrong with the world for something like that to be a common occurrence.

And it was a common occurrence, you'd seen how the other children were treated at school, you would often glance out your apartment window and see how the teachers reacted to bad grades and missed classes.

Maybe the father was right to punish the boy, after all it was rather inconsiderate to leave without saying anything. But something told you the boy didn't really intentionally leave without saying anything because he wanted to cause his father strife, more likely he wanted to avoid conflict and go off to play with his friends.

Perhaps it was God's cruel construction of the world, to build it in such a way that you would need to punish the sin out of children. To beat the vengeance God allowed to carry on from generation to generation since the very first wrong action out of the seemingly innocent little people.

Something didn't feel right about it, not at all. But then, that wasn't a unique thought. Many philosophers had thought similarly, and they'd died without changing it just like everyone else.

Politically chalked it up to socioeconomics, perhaps they were closer to the truth. Then again, historical materialism was hardly a historian favorite.

Ugh. Too many big words. you thought, and decided the bench wouldn't do to quiet your thoughts for the day. You needed something more ordinary, in line with the everyday consumer.

No, that's not the right word. you cursed yourself for having allowed your language to be warped by pessimistic economists.

You considered just going home but decided against it on the fact that you didn't yet feel tired enough for it. You could simply walk around the city, or maybe stop and get something to eat.

Briefly, the bar entered your mind as a guilty alternative. You weren't a fan of it, but then again you weren't a fan of any option you could think of.