I told a kid in my class the other day that it was going to be the year of the tiger! This kid is a kindergartner, five years old.
Usually there’s some interest when I bring this up, but this kid sort of sat with that for a couple minutes, expression settling into a thousand yard stare. Just as I was wondering if something was wrong, he looked at me with his haunted eyes and asked, in a tone of resignation: “When are the tigers coming?”
I had to quickly reassure him that the year of the tiger was like…an animal assigned to the year, and not another plague or natural disaster! Between the Covid, lockdowns, and huge flood of cicadas last year this child probably decided that this was in line with how the world worked and was mentally getting his affairs in order.
‘I guess a plague of tigers might as well happen’
