All people, myself included, tend to get upset about the silliest things from time to time. Earlier this week(Monday, I witnessed an encounter that included a double dose of rage as people from two cars,one behind the other in a lengthy line waiting to get gas at a busy Cumberland Farms, began screaming obscenity-laced threats at one another. To me, it looked like one car had cut in front of the other without getting the go-ahead signal to go so people in the other car were pissed off and they made it clear to those in the car trying to squeeze in that they didn’t like what was happening.
I had been walking home with our dog,Buddy,back to the house from a nearby bank and was going through the crowded Cumby’s parking lot when I heard the first screaming and obscenity-laced threats of potential harm passing from that one car who had been cut in front of to the other car. No, these were not happy people. And for what? A chance to get a little closer to a gas pump. If I had to guess, I would have said that the people in one or maybe both of the cars were late getting somewhere.
Anyway, all of the verbal threats ended up being just that, threats, and none of those angry people, drivers and passengers alike, ever got out of their cars.Instead they waited like grown-ups, got their gas and parted by flipping one another off. Ahh, good times!
Personally, if I still drove, I don’t know if I would’ve been bold enough to scream and curse at another driver like these people were doing, at least not while the person or people I was mad at were just a few feet away from me. Especially if I had been stuck in a gas line because people do the craziest things for the stupidest of reasons. I believe in defending myself if it’s necessary,but having a car cut me off or waiting a tad longer for gas wouldn’t seem like good enough reasons to curse out someone often enough to possibly trigger a physical fight.

Even so, it’s a different,more unpredictable world then it was when I was a kid. Mass shootings are frighteningly common. It takes little to nothing to set a person or people into a fit of rage. Fortunately, this spat never came to someone pulling a gun and possibly shooting innocent people….at least this time.Next time, myself or some other innocent person may not be so lucky. I sure as hell hope not!