A little jumpy

Recent headline news seems to be making people around here a little jumpy. It's now nationwide news about the St. Paul man who shot several hunters in Wisconsin over the weekend, killing six and wounding two others. Apparently he fired on them as they approached and asked him to leave the private property he was on.

Then there was the incident at the Friday night NBA basketball game where fans threw things at players and a brawl broke out between players and spectators which led to suspensions. Sounds like everything from popcorn, beer and a chair were tossed about on the court floor.

Taking all this under consideration, maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised when a man came to our door last night, demanding to see Mark and his two friends who had just driven home after skateboarding. They had the truck windows open (they were sweaty) and were singing along to a Beatle's CD, of all things. One of Mark's friends leaned his head out the window as he crooned along to the tune. This man, who was jogging next to the truck, somehow felt threatened by this, thinking the boys were shouting something at him. He came to our door making accusations and beckoning the boys to come "take this outside" and asked me if I would like to be "run down" when I'm out walking my dog.

Needless to say, this was a little unnerving, and I apologized to the man for his (imagined) fear. I also told him I didn't appreciate the language he was using. After muttering something about being free to say whatever, he left.

Raven and I had an uneventful walk this morning, thankfully. I'm praying that people will come to their senses and not resort to anger and violence in confusing circumstances. A kind word can turn away anger, and hopefully, we can all remember this and not see violence escalate in our every day lives.

Till next time,


Suzi