- from July 2, 2009 11:16PM
I moved to my left to get out of her way. She instantly jogged her cart to her right.
Thinking it was the typical, no-problem & simultaneous mis-communication, I stepped back to my right. But she swerved back hard to her left soon as I did .... nearly knocking me over before I could get out of her way.
She'd intentionally tried to hit me ... but before I could process what that meant, the real venom and fury came flying from her mouth.
Which I'll merely describe as an amazing 15 second liturgy of lightning fast invectives, expletive gerunds and 4-letter perjoratives. Aimed entirely and personally at me.
Sure I'd heard every one of those words before, just never assembled in such imaginative and blistering combinations. Wowee, as they say.
I didn't say or do anything but walk away as her curses bounced off my back ... but like you know, Yikes.
What gets in to some people?
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I found out later that this woman is notorious for her behavior ... which often include graphic threats of physical harm and sexual dismemberment. I also learned that she's homeless and mentally ill. And that she treats everybody the same way she treated me.
So it wasn't personal at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure she'd forgotten all about me by the time she let loose on whoever happened to next cross her path.
So there was no problem at all letting go of it.
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We call folks who imagine evil intentions from others and who then verbally attack and insult strangers "mentally ill." But we have different names for folks who imagine evil intentions from and who then verbally attack and insult people they know.
We often call them "friends," "spouses," "bosses," "teammates," "boyfriends," "girlfriends," "co-workers" and "family members."
It's much harder, but our reaction should still be the same: Let go of it.
