Maybe it's just that my empathy is off...

So, last summer, I was reading a back issue of the Utne Reader, and there was an article about living in empathy...basically that sympathy is not so useful, but that empathy, that you really take the time to try and 'feel' how someone else feels, is good.

That it can cut down on conflict, make you understand that your own point of view is not the only valid view, ect...

So, I'm walking around, trying do be more mindful and shit.
Day 1.


Morning:
Fine. I'm about a skijillion times less bitchy than I had been, and was feeling all good about how I'm finally a little more in contact with other's feelings and shit.

Afternoon:
Okay, it might have been a slightly trying day at Cheeseworld, but, you know, I'm still into the idea. I sorta wish everybody else was trying too, but wtf, I'm not in it to have others love me, I'm in it to learn how to love others.

5pm:
So, my shift at Cheeseworld is over, and I stop by Apple Bite (the real name of the corner store)
and buy a can of starbuck's frappiwhatever, mocha flavored.
I was caffine-deficient, and it was hot, and even though I never buy those things, sometimes, they just seem like a good idea. Mostly, they just taste like chemicals, and I think they suck, and frankly, this was no exception. But, the caffine calls....

...so, I then figure out that I've left my cellphone at Cheeseworld. I run back to Cheeseworld, and grab my phone.

Back, back towards the bus stop.

There is one problem with Lakeview (just one? well, for the sake of this story, just one. I'll write a full list later), and that is the gross amount of traffic and congestion of said streets. The 'hood just isn't built for that many cars.

Many of the north/south streets get clogged durning rush hour, and I was walking along one of those major arteries.

There are many little one way side streets, and they get clogged as well.


Then I see it.

There is an old, old woman. She is using a walker. She is bent over nearly double, and she wasn't all that tall to begin with. She is trying to cross the one way side street (which has a stop sign).

There is an asshole (I'll call him Todd) who is driving his huge SUV, talking on his phone, or blackberry or whatever, messing with his stereo, and inching out from the one way street into traffic. He hasn't come to a complete stop, because, the car in front of him is trying the same passive-aggressive manuver into the the North/South street. Traffic is not moving in any direction. It's now about 5:30pm. Nobody is going any where any time soon.

Todd, however, just really needs to go...now. Even if it's an inch at a time, Todd is not going to just sit at a stopsign. Noooooooo, Todd is Important. On The Move.

Todd hasn't noticed the woman with the walker, because she is...

Not Taller than Todd's Hood.

Myself, I'm not much taller than Todd's hood, 'cause Todd's got the Big Wheels and the Jacked up, and the Bling, and the Really Big Car.

Todd, living in his bubble, is running this poor woman down an inch at a time.

She is trying to scoot out of his way, and is not moving fast enough, but Todd is moving slowly, and it's scary.

There is an air of quiet desperation to this struggle, and, at the time, it seemed like a metaphor for a lot of things.

I, feeling all empathetic, RUN out in front of Todd's car and jump up and down, waving my arms.

"Hey Stop! STOP!"

Todd's stereo, his blackberry and whatnot, are all taking up all of Todd's brain. He doesn't Stop, because he doesn't see me, and since he's assuming that his low-speed crawl is sooo safe, he's just keeping it up. An inch at a time.

I finally bang on Todd's hood. He looks up, puzzled.
He stops.

I usher the woman past the Hummer of Death, and Todd leans out the window and says,

"What the Fuck" Todd's angry.

I get the woman to the curb, and turn around.
I walk back up to Todd's gas guzzler.

"You were running that woman down. You didn't see her. She almost fell, and you almost ran her down..."

Todd squints, "You hit my car"

"You didn't stop when I was yelling"

Todd Rolls his eyes. "Fuck you, I didn't hit anyone"


"Did you see her?"

"Crazy Bitch"

This, pisses me off. I'm way past empathy for Todd.

I do it.

I lob my almost full can of starbucks into his open window, splashing Todd and his Electronics,
scream "Fuck You", and run, as fast as I can.

Todd starts to get out of his car, but then doesn't. I am glad I'm not wearing the Cheeseworld uniform.


My empathy thing didn't go so well.