....until now.
We have all heard about the gathering storm clouds of right wing anger. We have seen footage of the town hall meetings and the guns. We have read about the shooting/murder at the Holocaust Museum. I'm sure many of you have witnessed it in person.
I know many conservatives, mostly from work, and I have heard the verbal tirades. I have seen Beck and O'Reilly on TV. Ok, maybe it was a clip on the Colbert Report, but you get my drift.
Earlier today I pulled up to a traffic light just as it was turning red. A pickup truck pulled up next to me (yes, a pickup truck..no lie.) I heard some loud ranting and saw this guy, apparently, talking to himself. He was looking straight ahead. Then, I heard the word "communist" and the word "president." I wondered if he had a headset that I wasn't seeing.
Then it dawned on me. I guess I was a little slow. I just never expected this kind of venom and anger when I really hadn't done anything. I drive a red Prius and I have a sticker that says "Yes We Did." This guy was yelling at, or about, me. He called me a communist, again. He was yelling at the top of his lungs. I could hear him through my closed windows. Believe me, I was getting a little scared. Maybe my imagination is too active, but his tone made me feel that he was very close to getting out of his car and possibly hurting me. There was a slight hesitation, on his part, as the light turned green. Trust me, there was no stopping me. I was so glad to put my foot on the gas and get away from him.
I actually felt like I had been naive. Here I am, proud of my beliefs and this guy actually hates me because of them. We feel that Obama is too centrist and too influenced by corporate special interests, yet there is still a contingent of people out there who think of Obama as a "communist." It definitely puts things in perspective. I began to wonder if it was safe to parade around in my car or with an Obama tee. I was ten minutes from my house, but I felt like I was in a foreign country. How are we supposed to create change when there are guys like this all over?
Honestly, I felt like yelling out my window "See a therapist about your anger issues," but I'm not that stupid. He made me angry at the time.
Now I'm just sad.