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Yesterday was... well, weird.
I went over to Zach's to talk through everything. It's a tricky situation, and we're both trying to cope. Sometimes, it's not so easy. But it was good.
That wasn't the weird/bad/sad part. That came when I dropped Z off at the Market. As I was pulling in to the parking lot, a rather drunk man and woman in their mid to late 30's stormed past the car. Okay....
I dropped him off and turned around to pull out, when the couple came back around the corner into the parking lot. He was yelling at her and sort of dragging her along. Zach and another bulky guy who had just come out of the Market yelled at him to stop, which didn't do a damn bit of good. He hit her, threw her to the ground, and starts advancing on the guys. I'm still in my car, so I rev toward him and throw my headlights on "bright" to blind him. I felt kind of cowardly not getting out of the car, but a) there were two 200+ pound guys ready to take the drunk guy on and b) my car is able to do more damage than I am. A vehicle's a good weapon, used properly.
Drunk guy finally staggers away, yelling invective all the time, we get the woman to the other side of her car, and then the first of six squad cars show up to subdue this guy. The woman is bawling and saying that she wants to see him locked up, and then staggers toward the cops to watch the proceedings. Bulky Guy tells us that they do this every two weeks. He hits her, he goes to jail for two days, he comes out all contrite, and then the cycle starts over.
Fuck, man. I've seen this play out more times than I'd like, and every time it's like a kick in the gut. What happens, what throws that little switch in someone's head? In either case? How does the basic need for love and companionship get twisted so far that people will accept any amount of abuse, emotional, physical or mental? How do people think they deserve it, that that's the best they can do, that the situation is acceptable?
I ask these things, knowing full well that I've walked that line a few too many times. My template is a fucked-up one, and I'd really like not to follow it. "There, but for the grace of god..." and all that.
Never underestimate the human capacity for self-destruction. Never ever.
I went over to Zach's to talk through everything. It's a tricky situation, and we're both trying to cope. Sometimes, it's not so easy. But it was good.
That wasn't the weird/bad/sad part. That came when I dropped Z off at the Market. As I was pulling in to the parking lot, a rather drunk man and woman in their mid to late 30's stormed past the car. Okay....
I dropped him off and turned around to pull out, when the couple came back around the corner into the parking lot. He was yelling at her and sort of dragging her along. Zach and another bulky guy who had just come out of the Market yelled at him to stop, which didn't do a damn bit of good. He hit her, threw her to the ground, and starts advancing on the guys. I'm still in my car, so I rev toward him and throw my headlights on "bright" to blind him. I felt kind of cowardly not getting out of the car, but a) there were two 200+ pound guys ready to take the drunk guy on and b) my car is able to do more damage than I am. A vehicle's a good weapon, used properly.
Drunk guy finally staggers away, yelling invective all the time, we get the woman to the other side of her car, and then the first of six squad cars show up to subdue this guy. The woman is bawling and saying that she wants to see him locked up, and then staggers toward the cops to watch the proceedings. Bulky Guy tells us that they do this every two weeks. He hits her, he goes to jail for two days, he comes out all contrite, and then the cycle starts over.
Fuck, man. I've seen this play out more times than I'd like, and every time it's like a kick in the gut. What happens, what throws that little switch in someone's head? In either case? How does the basic need for love and companionship get twisted so far that people will accept any amount of abuse, emotional, physical or mental? How do people think they deserve it, that that's the best they can do, that the situation is acceptable?
I ask these things, knowing full well that I've walked that line a few too many times. My template is a fucked-up one, and I'd really like not to follow it. "There, but for the grace of god..." and all that.
Never underestimate the human capacity for self-destruction. Never ever.
