Sir: It is scary when parents act like high school bullies. I would like to preface what I have to say bytelling you that I am not a parent. I chose this path because my lifestyle demands complete freedom to wake up and sleep whenever I please, plus I am not enamoured with the idea of spending my disposable income on school fees. I always thought of my hedonistic choices as being selfish, but when it comes down to it, I have nothing on parents. A few weeks ago a group of parents in Islamabad pressured the authorities at their children’s school to expel a group of 13 children. I was pretty sure that the children who were up for expulsion were a bunch of rotten apples. You know, selfish, hedonistic, that type of thing. Based on the sheer number I also assumed that they were operating in a gang, all 13 of them out to ruin the other good children. But I was wrong and it turns out that these unlucky 13 are in fact children who have been diagnosed with AIDS. That is not all; besides suffering a life threatening disease, these children are orphans. I have no idea how such confidential health information became so public, but word got out and the parents, in a panic over the thought that by merely sharing a classroom their children were being put at risk, decided to band together and run these children out of town. I am usually a sore loser but even I have to admit that when it comes to self-centred behaviour these parents are beating me at my own game. I actually find almost all children annoying but this business has managed to upset me. These people are so clearly bereft of compassion for what appears to be the most vulnerable segment of our society that I wonder how they are qualified to be parents in the first place. I think that prospective parents should be subject to a written exam followed by an interview to assess their abilities to raise a responsible next generation and anyone so lacking in empathy should have their reproductive rights revoked. And speaking of written tests I think it is safe to assume that these parents were never schooled. If they had been they would have figured out how to read and they would have read that AIDS can only be spread in very specific ways. So unless these children are giving each other blood transfusions while playing doctor-doctor, or having unprotected sex while playing house-house, they are not at risk. And of course like all good parents who use their children as an excuse to get out of social obligations they could not care less about, these parents are also using their children to propagate their ignorant views by claiming that their children have been frightened by all this. I have to ask, who do you think is more frightened — the orphaned children with AIDS or the ones who live happily at home with their mothers and fathers? The fact is that children are going to be frightened because they are children and do not understand! Parents are not; parents are supposedly adults and took the very adult decision to have children. But they have not acted like adults and have instead behaved like high school bullies who only pick on the weakest, most defenceless people because they know that is the best they can do and by doing this are passing on a valuable lesson to their own children — it is okay to victimise those who cannot fight back. I really do hope the meek inherit the earth because you know what? The rest of us just do not deserve it. TANIYA SAIFUDDIN Karachi