I have to vent. Badly. So continue at your own risk. This is not my usual silly or cute content.
I have slowed down on posting political crap but this rant is needed. So badly. I may lose friends, this may spark outrage for me or against me. But I need this.
I was was verbally assaulted today. I dont know what else to call it really. This wouldnt be the first time it’s happened, I’ve got 15+ years in customer service. Comes with the territory. But this was the first time in a public location by someone I didnt know and I had done nothing to provoke him. Well... I stood my ground in calling him out so maybe that did. A man... I can’t call him a gentleman because I barely want to call him a man, started talking to me while I was standing in line at a speedway near my home. I had the few little groceries I needed to pick up, stopping at the gas station as an after thought. I was standing in line, trying to stay the proper distance back when this old (60-70 range) said to me directly “It would solve everyone’s problem if the people in China just died.”
I was surprised to say the least and thought maybe I hadn’t heard him correctly. So being me, I answered “Excuse me?” To which he repeated himself. I was OUTRAGED. I turned to him with a look of disgust and said “Sir, that was completely uncalled for!” To which I was promptly called a bitch that didnt know what I was talking about. I retorted “That is racist as all get out! What is wrong with you?!” And was again called names, told I was ignorant and that I probably voted for Hillary. Luckily it was my turn in line and the clerk got me out as quickly as she could. I’m muttering the whole time that customer service doesnt prepare you for that and I was sorry she had to deal with people on both sides like that... all the while this.... man thing person had turned to another person and went on about all the viruses that have come out of China and all this bs and that people like me were the problem and when were the ignorant ones going to wake up.
I got to my car, locked my doors and just say there for a moment, running over it all in my head. Trying to grasp what just happened. When the “man” came out, he made eye contact with me and got into his van beside my car. I quickly drove off before calling my mom (yep, I did) because I needed someone steady that understood me and could keep me grounded while I cried as I drove.
From here on, this rant is going to outline me a bit.
I’m a liberal. Been called a bleeding heart, yada yada, whatever. I believe in equal rights. I am a feminist in the sense of equality for everyone. This includes equal pay for the same job and experience, all sexes being eligible for draft, etc. I believe in all lives matter with the knowledge that as a white person I have privileges and safeties guaranteed to me because of the color of my skin and using that to help others if I see them being wronged (also in understanding there is a big problem in this nation). I believe in people having the right to body autonomy because it’s none of my business if someone needs the morning after pill, needs a surgery to remove a fetus (wanted but cant or unwanted) or if they need to have tubes tied or snipped. I believe in supporting each other through the hard times. I believe in giving people freedom of religion and voice. I believe in standing by men and women and other genders when they step forward because they were sexually assaulted.
People like the man that confronted me are the same ones that have no issue with things like detention centers, internment camps... people like him are the same people that would have gleefully put Japanese Americans in the internment camps or Jewish people in death and work camps. People like that have absolutely no issue of children dying in detention centers or being separated from their parents. They would have had no problem going to a Native American camp and raping women before murdering them and the children. They dont care about anyone and have no sense of what is right or what is wrong. And it makes me absolutely sick. I try to remind myself that they are not the majority. That they are not the representation of humanity. That there are good people in this world.
I’m not sorry for speaking up. I’m just sorry I was the only one in that store that did. If it ever happens again, I’ll be stronger from this experience and will speak up again. I will not be the silent voice. I will be like so many before me and so many after me. I would rather speak up than be silent.
