Jerks

A few months ago I drove to Borders to pick up a book. On the way, I passed a homeless man standing on the side of the road. I don't remember what his sign said, but I remember he looked old and his hair was white and his face looked soft. The driver in front of me rolled down his window and tossed something at the man. Trash. Not money, not food, but his own old fast food wrappers. I became angry, and decided that if the driver was going to Borders too then I would say something to him. Turn after turn, his truck remained in front of me.

I grew increasingly nervous as we got closer to Borders, and when he parked right in front of the building I panicked. He stepped out of his truck, and he was huge. I didn't say anything. I looked at him, and I couldn't speak. I let him get away with it. For weeks later I thought about that incident, about how he couldn't have done anything to a girl in a public parking lot in the middle of the day, about how I didn't want to be someone who let people get away with treating others like crap.

Today I was sitting in a coffee shop reading a book. This particular coffee shop employs young adults with disabilities, and it seemed that the young man at the front counter had just begun working there. A man sitting across the way kept glancing at me over his computer screen, and I tried to ignore him as I read. He answered a phone call, talked for a few minutes inside, then went outside for the majority of the conversation. When he came back in he sat in his seat and asked the young man, "Did you turn the music up because I was on the phone?" His voice grew louder as he spoke, and soon he was yelling. "I saw you turn the music up because I was on the phone. Why did you turn it up??? I saw you!!!" There were only 3 others of us in the cafe, and we all turned to see what was happening. The young man kept washing dishes and shaking his head back and forth. "But I saw you do it! Why? That was rude!!!"

A few minutes passed, then the man walked over to the counter. With renewed anger, he said, "Why did you turn the music up while I was on the phone? Did you not want me talking?? You shouldn't have turned it up!" As he sat back down, I turned to him and said across the room, "Why are you yelling at him?" He looked up, flustered, and sighed, "It was upsetting."

More time passed, and the man walked over near my table. He said, "I am sorry to bother you, it's just that he turned up the music while I was on the phone and it was very rude." I said, "Uh huh. I didn't hear the music get louder at all." "It went up at least three times. I don't know why, some people are just crazy." "Well, still, I don't think you should have yelled at him." "Yeah, probably not. Maybe I'm upset about other things too and it just came out here." "Okay," I said, and turned back to my book.

David walked in during this conversation, and after the man left David asked, "Um...did I miss something?" When I told him the story, he said, "You're a fireball. I'm proud of you."

I've made a decision. I'm going to stand up against the jerks. I will not be silent! Who's with me?