So, I was driving through the supermarket parking lot yesterday, when coming towards me were a teenage boy and girl. There was some tomfoolery going on between them that ended when the boy shouted, "Give me my fucking hat, bitch!"
He snatched the hat from her and the two walked in different directions. I was minding the other cars in the parking lot, so didn't say anything, though I wish now I had. What I would have said was, "Dump him quick, girl. You can do much much better. Stick with him and you're guaranteed a life of unhappiness."
So often we regret what we haven't said, regret what we didn't do. My cousin Bob, the minister, had a good piece recently on the epistle of James, and about the fair weather friends who offer words of comfort without giving any material aid to people in distress. But words can help too, I'm convinced, and I didn't say any of them to that teenage girl.
What would I have said to the boy? "Clean it up. You gotta treat other people decently if you want to keep them in your life?" I probably would have earned a one-fingered salute.
There's a line from the movie "A Man for All Seasons" that I think of often: "We must just hope that when your head stops spinning your face is to the front again." It's a fancy way of saying "Grow up," but I really like it.
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