Saturday, September 29, 2007

Calm Down People

This morning I stopped to put gas in my car at a small gas station / mini-mart. There were some cars lined up at so I had to wait my turn, but not very long. As I got out to do my business, a motorcycle pulled in behind me and used the second pump. He had entered from the left side of the pumps while there was still a silver Honda Accord in line to the right.

The woman in the Honda had to wait about another minute to get to her pump, and then she unleashed on the biker for cutting in front of her to get to the pump. Wow, maybe he did cut, (from my point of view she was awaiting a car that was about to clearly finish, and he came around the other side, but who knows...maybe she had planned to drive around and circle into the right at that moment), but she was nasty and mean spirited about her ninety second delay to get to the pump. I was a little shocked.

He was not going to take her word daggers, and launched right back at her calling her names that one might expect from a guy on a motorcycle. She tossed the "F" word at him, and he made references about her personal relationships in colorful language that again one could visualize coming from the bandanna headed biker.

Meanwhile we all still filled up our gas tanks. Even if he did take "cuts" in line (I am still not convinced he did that), it did not really impact her world. Nobody stole her dog or shot bullets at her, and I cannot imagine that the one point five minutes of waiting was worth her blood pressure soaring. Of course, he did not need to engage her in the verbal tongue fu. They both were acting without much class or respect toward their fellow man.

But this happens all the time. People judge a situation from their own vantage point and immediately attack others. I am not suggesting that one should not stand up for themselves, but sometimes the world just needs a big "chill pill".

Have A Great Day.

thom

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