I had two obvious chances today to do something socially conscious, but failed at both of them. The first occurred as I was sitting on the beach studying, at clover point. A couple of girls who were near me packed up and left, walking by me and leaving several beer cans on the ground. I almost stopped them to mention the garbage they were leaving behind, but didn't.

The second, a more odd situation, happened at the grocery store. In front of me were a few young high school boys, maybe 15 years old... not the 'cool kids', you might say by their appearance. In front of them was a guy and a girl together; the guy had one of those macho t-shirts, a few tattoos, and looked like a through-and-though prick even before he opened his mouth to talk. And he was a prick, as it happened, because for no reason he confronted the three boys, asking something like "I hope you're not trying to fuck with me, because if you do, I'll fuck with you..." It didn't even make sense, and there was zero provocation. The poor boys didn't know what to do, and I know exactly what they felt in that moment, because I've felt it many times. At that age, boys are so self-conscious, so inwardly focused, so worried about how they look and what others think, that they have trouble realizing that there are other people in the world who are just plain wrong, or worse, just plain assholes. In reality, quite a large number of people are, and this guy was.

I should have calmly stood up for the boys, perhaps telling the macho guy to relax and keep the language to himself, but I didn't.

Comments

Anonymous said…
If you have learnt your lesson and will cosciously try to stand up for what you believe next time 100%then its okay....it happens sometimes I have failed standing up for myself once and it still bothers me.

Take Care,
RS
11:34 AM
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