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What the Hell is Wrong with People?
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4/04/2007
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This happened two years ago, and I recently had a series of similar experiences that started me writing. Halfway through, I realied that I was essentially re-writing the same story-
I'm leaving my office on Saturday, sitting at a busy intersection on piedmont road. 4 lanes 40 mph busy. Across from me is the entrance to a big strip mall, and it is a divided entrance. Standing on the middle island with a cane is a blind and quite disoriented man in his late twenties. The opposite light turns green, and as the cars start to go by, he begins walking out in the intersection, thinking he is on a crosswalk. People slow down and go annoyedly around him, and by now I'm out of my car thinking "Why the fuck is no one DOING anything? If Jesus sees this, he's going to be pissed." I figured I had a better chance in traffic than he did (having fully operational peepers and all), so I went out in the middle of the intersection and irritated a bunch of people by making them stop. The poor guy was scared having just realized that he was in an active intersection. I could feel the tension leave him when I touched his shoulder and asked him where he needed to go. Bus stop across the street? No problem, my man.
Here's the part that makes me want to cry for some of these selfish jackwipes who breathe my air but can't be legally killed in order to make life easier for the smart people- We're walking across this intersection and someone actually honked their horn at us for impeding their precious progress. He jumped, thinking we were milliseconds from being turned into pizza toppings, and I reassured him while being glad he could not see me, because I was using my free hand to make a pointed gesture directly into a windshield not six feet from me. Seriously probably the best middle finger I have ever delivered- straight arm, elbow locked, blazing glare filled with the kind of energy you can smell, no question about it middle finger that will make you call your dad and ask him what to do. That's some hard core multi-tasking. If that guy had the nuts to get out of his car, the rest of his day would have been dedicated to figuring out how to walk with a collapsible walking cane up his ass, and I would have been shopping for a new tappy stick for my friend because he wouldn't want that one back.
I thought this was Atlanta, not New freekin' York.
But wait, there's more.
I got him to the bus stop and now had to return to my car, which was across a lane of moving traffic with the door still open. Of all the people who saw what happened, do you think anyone stopped to let me get back to my car? Not unless "stop" now means "continue along your retarded path so you can get your quarter pounder and milkshake before your appearance as grand marshal of the moron parade". My light is green now and my car is sitting at the front of the line. When I got back to it, the girl behind me honked her horn too. This time I didn't flip anyone off. I stopped and stared at her for a long five seconds as the light poetically went from green to yellow to red behind me (gave me time to count to ten before I did anything violent. My only witness would have been a blind guy, so I thought better of it) and wondered what life must be like for people who are too damned stupid to appreciate what's happening around them. It was a stare that I hope communicated my frustration and a certain degree of pity.
Slow the hell down and understand that there are times when it doesn't matter where you are going or how soon you need to be there.
Gosh.
 Dusty
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posted by Dusty at 9:38 AM |
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6 Comments:
To think any of those people would've stopped to help someone would mean hell froze over.
This story has provided content for my blog as well as renewed my faith in parts of the human race (mainly blog writers). This is one of the stories that I quote most often, or send people to my site to read. I think it is FANTASTIC and I absolutely love you for it.
USA! USA! USA!
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