splinter

[cris]

We were walking to our movie and Ann was saying, "so, I learned how to eat with chopsticks when I was young, and I remember that a friend of mine saw me and she asked how I learned how to do it, and I said that I learned it from my mom, and she asked if my mom was Asian and I said, 'do I look Asian?'We chuckled at that and I said that it was a

Comments

*gulp*

[eeyrg]

Man, what an ASS HOLE.
Want me to break his legs?
=)

Re: *gulp*

[cris]

yes, and then his wife will go and break my arms AND legs, and then you'll go and shoot her, and then their kid will do a drive-by of your place, and then your boi's gonna have to ethnically cleanse the VA hospital, and ...

don't you see!? the cycle of violence never ends!

... can't we all just get along?

Re: *gulp*

[silas7]

or maybe, he will get a thrashing and you will never see him again.

If you had fought him, the rest of the would have probably been ruined. So it's better you didn't fight him.

Still, I feel a rant coming on.

[atalanta]

that's such a strange .. _extreme_ version of this kind of incident. the following, the refusal to give up. did he seem nuts, or was this some cold calculated desire to get at you?

which is maybe nuts in its own right.

sorry. it always astounds me that these things happen.

[cris]

that's such a strange .. _extreme_ version of this kind of incident. the following, the refusal to give up. did he seem nuts, or was this some cold calculated desire to get at you?

I'm not sure if he was out-and-out nuts, but he seemed slightly unhinged, which also added to my reluctance towards starting something. If this was just some random guy being stupid and macho, a quick couple of blows would've probably been enough to tell him that he'd picked the wrong target. But this guy was borderline rabid, and a fight with him would've probably gotten really nasty, really fast.

[ayun]

It was creepy. Bizarre and rather upsetting in a way that I can't seem to articulate. I was afraid to look around because I wasn't sure if he was following us or not after a while, and didn't want to make eye contact or encourage him in any way.

Fuct Up.

Oh, and Cris, thanks for linking to that godawful photo publicly. :p

Re:

[cris]

oops, sorry ... didn't realize that post you originally linked it to was friends only ... tho, I thought it highly appropriate for the conversation we were having.

but, yeah, it was creepy.

Moving on

[rojagato]

I wanted to forget about this and move on

I grew up with these people, and some of them are related by blood. One of them is my father, who doesn't shout at passers-by any more ... the redemption of age and perspective, I suppose, but it's still simmering under the surface. We fought about it, sometimes physically, mostly me screaming at him to stop, just stop. Stop.

You don't understand, he'd begin. What these people ...

I don't understand YOU, the adolescent Paisley screamed back.

But I did. I do. I do understand it. It's not justifiable. It's madness built on generations of similar madness, sprung to ugly acts by the trigger of torture. They see it in the mirror every morning when they shave. It informs every interaction that they have with anyoneOnce, I stopped my father from yelling out the car when we passed a couple walking down the street. All I said was, "Tell me what happened to you. Tell me. What happened

Re: Moving on

[cris]

hmm ... you said pity, and one thing I realized in my entry was that I didn't state how, when the memory first resurged after I tried to bury it, I did feel a sense of pity and sadness over what molded this guy into being a racist bastard. I thought that he probably lost friends, innocence ... something.

but I stopped there, because I also knew of other veterans that went through hell and don't use it as an excuse for hate.

your statement about not being able to move on captures part of that, but another part of me wonders how much of that is also just being unable to override the programming that says that your enemy is not a human being ... just some brown-skinned, slanty-eyed monster that's out to kill what's dear to you and yours.

That's amazing

[hottberry]

What's amazing is not the fact that this occurred; these things happen. But what is amazing is your reaction. Everyone has of course heard it said that the "bigger man" walks away, and although it may sound trite, it is nevertheless very true. Be proud of yourself, even though you are upset that you keep thinking about it and you feel a sudden rush of anger or frustration that is momentarily overwhelming. Be proud of yourself because you are indeed the "bigger man," whatever that may mean--you didn't stoop to his level but rather forced him to keep pressing on in hopes of you reacting. Your anger or a violent reaction would have validated him, and since you know that attempting to explain the realities of it to him would have been pointless, you should realize that by ignoring him you made him feel stupid. That is why he followed you: he wanted you to tell him that his opinion was a valid enough one to respond to.

Re: That's amazing

[ex_relativit21]

c'ris is dreamy.

Re: That's amazing

[cris]

and you're linking to something that I'd rather stay hidden ;p

Re: That's amazing

[ex_relativit21]

but... aren't you?

and now, some crisku:

cris is amazing
he is dreamy; this is true
dear cris, we love you!

though, coming from me, that may be a bit presumptuous

you get my point. :P