I came across this intriguing note when I got off the bus last night - meticulously bound with oodles of packing tape onto three of the four lamp-posts at the crossing of Granville Street and West 7th Ave in Vancouver. Visible and weather-protected.
Quite the scene must have played out at that spot just the day previous. A huge over-reaction on both sides by the sounds of it.
At first glance I was struck by the aggressive undertone of the note but then I have to admit, I quietly admire this person's humility at trying to (publicly) make amends. Well, if you discount the middle few lines where the apology begins to waver somewhat - in fact those lines were blacked out by pen on one of the posters.
Clearly he (I'm assuming it was a he) really was in a dark place, auditions or not, and maybe the other person went a little over the top also, though I imagine I would too at the mention of throats being slit etc. But we all have sh*t going on, one way or another, and I'm sure we all act it out sometimes on those who had no intention of upsetting us, certainly not to the point we lash out like this person did anyway. We might unleash our own messed-up head without knowing or even considering the sh*t the other person might be going through at that time too. We all have a back-story, one way or another.
I have to wonder if the other person in this scenario was a tourist, perhaps European, given the mention of camera and man-purse. Well, I guess he got first-hand confirmation of the (fairly reliable) rumour that Vancouverites are pretty unfriendly. Your average person on the street here really does come across as if they couldn't give a shit about anyone but themselves, their cellphone and where to grab a Starbucks half-caf-triple-salchow-demi-macchiato-non-fat-low-carb-gluten-free-soy-latte on their way to yoga! But it doesn't mean we're all like that.
At the end of the day, the writer of this note admits they were in a bad headspace and something small triggered a huge and uncalled for level of retaliation for which I believe he/she genuinely feels bad. Even if they weren't entirely 100% to blame for the ugly scene that apparently unfolded on that street corner, they're at least admitting their part in an unfortunate event and are reaching out to say, 'Hey, sorry man - that was totally uncool and uncalled for.' I hope the other person sees (or hears about) this note and can move on too. No-one is ever too big or too old to apologize - or to accept an apology.
Peace!
No comments:
Post a Comment