Mean People Suck

You never know how you affect another, so remember MEAN PEOPLE SUCK, don't be one of them. The next time you feel upset, angry, frustrated don't take it out on the Timmies girl or the flaggers or the gym girl or the coffee guy... just breathe... usually things get better after a few moments. Most bad moments don't last too long, try to ride it through before lashing out and regretting it. It may make you feel better in the moment, but ultimately you'll be affecting someone else for a longer time afterwards and they may take that anger and take it out on another and so on... it travels fast and it's dangerous.

Tonight I wasn't feeling great, my family has been sick for days, but I needed to get out, so I decided to take my boys for a nice leisurely walk down our street to visit the "BIG HUGE RASPBERRIES" which are a new statue given to Abbotsford on the corner of Marshall and Clearbrook. They are my two year old son's favourite things ever. He always says he wants to "Eat them right up!" Lately, there has been construction near our place, as they are paving new roads and sidewalks, finally. We have been looking forward to having a real sidewalk for a long time. I have been taking my two year old to the site often showing him the BIG DIGGERS and excavators and rollers and cement mixers and telling him all about it. He loves it! He always says, "Big diggers working right mommy?" Anyhow... so tonight...

We are walking (on the road) beside the sidewalk... which looks wet, but finally filled in... and I am talking about how exciting it is going to be to walk on the new sidewalk and I stop and bend down and point to the ground and then to the wet part, saying to my two year old, "See, almost dry. This part is wet and this part is all finished." and suddenly this guy behind me starts screaming at me... "DON'T TOUCH IT! DON'T TOUCH IT!" Scared the crap out of me and my son. As if I want to put my fingers in the gross cement and get my hands all yukie and wreck the brand new sidewalk I have waited for like two years for.

Anyhow. I said, "I didn't touch it, I was showing my son." He screams again, DON'T TOUCH IT! DON'T TOUCH IT! 4 PEOPLE ALREADY TOUCHED IT! I said, "I told you I didn't touch it, I didn't touch it... quit screaming at me!" He continues as he walks towards me... "DON'T TOUCH IT!" I mean he must be deaf or something. I said, "I didn't touch it, I was talking to my son explaining how it's all wet." He screams back, "YOUR SON DOESN'T KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT, HE'S TOO YOUNG!" Oh my gawd... I wanted to loose it, snap... there was a sign in my American Sign Language I did remember and wanted to show him sooo badly at this point. How dare he tell me what my son does and doesn't understand. Why is he freaking out on me? My son has been communicating with me since he was 6 months old with sign and now talks like a 3 year old and understands plenty.

I wanted to scream back at him. I wanted to tell him my son is smarter than you are! I wanted to ask him why he finds it necessary to scream at people on the side of the road? Was his job of yelling at people all he could get with his grade 9 education? I wanted to tell him to take his cement and shove it when the sun doesn't shine. I suddenly had the urge to wreck his precious cement with a large stick! I was livid. How dare he ruin my evening by screaming at me in front of my children.

But I took a deep breath and all I did say was, "Please stop screaming at me in front of my kids." And how did he reply?... "I'LL WRITE YOU UP! I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH IT!" At this point I was sure he was crazy. I began to walk away and threw my hands up in the air and just as he was leaving my earshot, I couldn't help myself, I yelled, "I DIDN'T TOUCH IT!" It felt kinda good to do that.

But you know, it kinda ruined the rest of my night. I kept replaying over and over. It was sticking to me like old gum to a dirty shoe. That frustrated me. I was sure he went on with his night, yelling at his next victim of circumstance and instead I am festering over this and feeling like crap. No one likes to be yelled at and I felt sad for my curious little two year old who was listening all these weeks about the Diggers, Excavators, Machinery and how cool it will be to walk on the new sidewalk. And instead he looks up at me and says, "I didn't touch it!" This guy made me so angry for ruining something so great I was doing with my son. We have had nothing but great experiences over the last few weeks with all the crew there. We chatted with flaggers and workers and have had such a great time and now all I have is this to remember every time I walk on that stupid sidewalk. Boy did I want to wreck it!

That man had choices and he didn't use them. When we first walk right by him, he could of calming said, "Hey ma'am watch out for the wet cement on the sidewalk when you go by it's not dry yet." or "When I said I didn't touch it (the first time) He could of said, "Oh sorry, we've had some kids wrecking the cement tonight, just trying to keep it intact."
or hey, how about this... why not use a dollar and go to the Dollar store and buy a long roll of yellow tape and tape off the whole area?? Put up a blockade until it's dry... how much are they paying that guy to scream at people?

I usually don't vent or complain on here, but I wanted to remind people that we are all here together, whether we know each other or not. You affect others and your attitude and behaviour affect others, so if each of us just take deep breathes and be the big person, maybe we make this world a little nicer to be in. Thanks for listening.