A Beautiful Disaster

Some people just aren't happy unless they are unhappy.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day outside today, so I decided to go rollerblading this afternoon. There is a nice park near my apartment, so I drove there and jammed out to my iPod shuffle as I cruised around the pond a few times. Because the weather was so great, there were lots of people enjoying the park, as well, and it was fun to see all the families biking, walking, running, playing Frisbee and doing many other activities that can't always be done on the first day of February in every other part of the nation.

It was definitely the refresher I needed to forget all of my worries and just bask in the greatness that God created.

That was until I had an encounter with the Grouch.

As I was leaving the parking lot, a car started backing up, not really looking behind him. I honked my horn so that he wouldn't hit me. Because the weather was so nice, I had my window down so I could enjoy the day. Little did I know that I would also get to enjoy his foul mouth. At this point, he simply rolled down his window and yelled, "Can you not see me backing out?!"

I just kept driving. I could see this guy clearly had some rage issues, and I wasn't in the mood to argue with him. He hadn't hit me, so there was no harm done. However, he wasn't finished just yet.

After I had completely pulled out onto the road, he sped up and chased me down, pulled up beside me, rolled down his window and shouted: "Why don't you have a little [insert obscenity] patience next time?!" Then he made a u-turn and sped off in the other direction.

Wow.

He had driven in the opposite way of his destination so that he could yell and cuss at me. And what good did it do? Absolutely none. Can we rewind time and avoid our whole parking lot encounter? No. Are we likely to see each other again in the immediate future? I doubt it, seeing as how I had never seen him before in my life, anyway. Was I even the one at fault? I didn't think so, though I might be a bit biased in this instance.

The fact of the matter is, there is nothing we can do to change the past, and it's not like any damage had even happened! All that had occurred was the honk of a horn! Perhaps that just doesn't fly with him. Or maybe he had some pent-up anger, and I had been the final straw that made him snap. Whatever the reason, he felt it was necessary to chase me down the road so that he could scream out the window at me.

And it did nothing.

I didn't really respond to the guy. I think I just looked at him or smiled (I have a tendency to be sarcastic at times...), though I am not completely sure. I guess I was just too shocked at the time that someone would really waste all of that time and energy to yell at a stranger. I guess he didn't enjoy his time at the park as much as the rest of us did.

It makes me sad that some people get so bent out of shape over the most ridiculous things and can't just let them go. I hope for the best for this man and will just have to pray that he will find joy in life without seeking to suck all the fun away from others.

On a lighter note, happy Super Bowl Sunday to all!