An amusing yet telling encounter.....

[vi5]

So yesterday our town had a Christmas parade. It gets crowded and it was cold. So I drove down to where we usually stand a few hours before and parked my car on the street close to where we would be. Then we drove down with my parents, dropped my wife, mom, and daughter off and my dad and I parked his car further away and walked. This way once the parade was over we would have a car closer to where we were that we could hop into and drive my parents to their car so we didn't have to walk a mile and a half in the bitter cold with a 4 year old.

So when I parked the car a few hours earlier I was the second one on the street and I had pulled up to a normal closeness to the car behind me but there was nobody else on the street. So as the parade was about to begin I ran to my car to get something and needless to say the area was crowded. I got in, grabbed what I needed and then was closing and locking my door when a woman pulled alongside of me and made a motion with her hand. I thought she was asking if I was leaving so she could have my space and I shook my head no, that I was not. So then she rolls down her window and yells "Real nice, you jerk." and slowly started to pull away. I was perplexed but then I looked over and realized that since the time I had parked the car, the people who had since parked behind and in front of me left odd amounts of space and what this woman must have been asking me was if I could pull forward or backwards so she could pull in. When I realized my mistake I felt bad and started to jog to catch up to her car to apologize, explain and let her pull in. Then I noticed that she had a bunch of Bush Cheney and a few other wingnut type bumperstickers on her car and I stopped in my tracks and said "fuck it" and just let her pull away. Then I went back and moved up my car anyway for whoever else might want the spot.

Now why this is telling is what I think is likely one of the main differences between "us" and "them". That being that I have felt bad about this encounter since yesterday. I realize I shouldn't in that it was all a misunderstanding. But I can't shake the feeling of feeling bad about doing it. Should I have felt bad that I didn't race down the street to catch up to her? Probably not. Especially since she was coming to the parade 5 minutes before it started and expecting a close spot. Should I have paid closer attention and noticed the odd spaces left from the people who parked after me? Maybe. Who knows. Either way I still feel kinda bad.

[qnr]

1. Hmm, you're softer than me.

I was at a Goodwill store a few weeks ago, standing outside while my wife was shopping. Generally, I at least open the doors for people donating. This time, I was watching this guy struggle with getting an assortment of donations together, as soon as he picked one set up, another fell.

After watching this for about two minutes, I started walking over to ask if I could help. When I'd gone about 200 feet, I was close enough to see the Bush/Cheney and some seriously reactionary bumper stickers plastered on his car. I turned around without a word and went back to stand in front of the Goodwill.

I think I might have felt guilty for 90 seconds, but that was about it.