A couple of times we talked about the difficulty of walking in the streets with so much bumping of shoulders or someone practically crashing their entire frame into you. “What’s wrong with people these days? Oh, civilization where art thou!” But it is not about things being wrong with others or their acting in ‘uncivilized\ manner. It’s about each one failing to take responsibility for mistakes committed or putting our own houses in order. One curse of this age is that when it comes to all the wrongs being done it is always “Them” and seldom “Us.” They are the ones with the fangs and tails of Lucifer or whatever and we are the ones with the angelic wings.
“Can’t you see where you are going? You almost knocked me down!”
“You are the one who unloaded your eighty something kilos on me!”
Anger all over. Someone said that anger is a condition where the tongue works faster than the mind. So true! And the many tongues working faster than the many brains in the streets are proof that walking the streets in such congestions isn’t an easy practice these days.
This is something where you can design some directive “Anyone bumping into someone in the streets will be locked in for a week.” Bingo! Finally got the perfect solution. Not so fast. In the first place I can tell you it would be difficult to agree on who bumped into whom.
There is this recent ‘bumping shoulders’ incident where no one indeed saw the real problem but the red hot exchanges between the parties involved. Both guys were probably anywhere from mid-forties to early fifties. Now, you would think theirs was the time of life where the tongues remain in backbenches as the brains fill the front row seats. But not with these guys! They were loudly accusing each other of deliberately bumping into one another. And the words these innocent and content guys threw at each other were so crude practically no one tried to interfere. At a certain moment they drew so close to each other that the only question was which fist would fly through the air as the curtain raiser for some dramatic fight. It never happened.
A couple of days ago were taking our once or twice a week walk when one of us bumped into a pretty lady. It was his fault since he was so immersed in telling us some current affairs ‘breaking news’ he wasn’t aware the lady coming the opposite direction. But then she, too, should have focused on the road ahead of her. The outgoing sort of guy he was he smiled ‘the smile of the month’ and said “Sorry!” When it comes to playing the friendliness card few could rival him.
However, friendliness was the last thing on the lady’s mind. You could read it splashed all over her face, “Another one of them! Does he think I’m a fool to accept that he didn’t see me coming!” She dumped a torrent of abusive words on our friend and coming from such a pretty lady made them more hurting than they usually would have been. Yes, she was pretty and that didn’t make things any easier. Somebody should have told her that even the prettiest face in this corner of the world isn’t some immunity-card allowing the holder to abuse others. That was what this lady was trying to do. She crossed so many red lines and our pal was so worked up he threw at her a single four-letter word which had the bruising power of an entire dictionary of not-so-nice vocabulary and the effect was devastating. She looked like an unsuspecting character in some Aliens and Predators episode suddenly faced with the monster of monsters.
You see, the problem is that it is the age “They did it!” and not, “We did it!”
Now, our pal was the last guy to claim the word ‘handsome’ be included before your name. But you’re not that unsightly for her to call up the help of all her angry cells. He just bumped into her accidently and that is all there is to it! These days all of us bump into each other with such frequency that you don’t need to do shoulder exercise in the gym. If you go out into town at most hours of the day and return home without a couple of bumps then you’re the Invisible Man. Hollywood is in much need of you. There’re numerous unintentional things you might do and later feel sorry or even regret. But then the hardest thing is to convince people that it is unintentional. Of course with the slyness gripping mankind in this age the intentional might be a well thought up ruse.
A hundred and one thoughts crop up; “Why did he bump into me when there are hundreds of people. Maybe the guy was sent after me by someone.” Well someone could be anyone from the friend you stanched his girlfriend from in junior high. That could be more a couple of decades plus a few months. Well some memories never leave! Especially being seen as a fool seeing your girlfriend carried away by a dear friend and doing nothing about it! “Why are you guys harassing the poor fellow!” What has he done to you?”
“Nothing!”
“Then why is everyone talking such trash about him.”
“Well, he had this girlfriend and his best friend took her away from under his nose.”
“So!”
“So he did nothing! Would you believe it?”
“What should he have done!?”
“He should have beaten the hell out of the guy!”
We could be so sensitive that innocent bumps could bring about all kinds of memories.
So how can we deal with this bumping thing? I don’t know. How in the world could I know? I’m one of those guys who hunt for the quieter less congested parts of town to go from some place or another. Even a harmless walk is difficult and most of the time less congested means fewer shoulder bumps! Ha! And also in this age of congestion more deserted areas could be scarier.
By the way we used to wonder when we see footage of other places where people practically flow like some human river. The only thing is you don’t see them bumping into each other. So however tight the congestion bumps could be avoided.
So it’s all about acting responsibly. Busy and in a hurry! Well many of us are busy and in a hurry. Claiming to be “busy and in a hurry” is the new game in town. Well, not really new; but it seems to have taken a fresh dimensions. You might be going practically nowhere and you might have all the time in the world but claiming to be ‘busy in a hurry’ is you’re self-asserted right. I mean, you can’t be left out when practically everyone is busy and in a hurry!
Ephrem Endale Contributer
The Ethiopian Herald September 24/2023