The scenario goes something like this:
I walk out of the church building with my sister Kalinee, only to see Blair, a sweet 19 yr old handicapped girl in my ward dancing to One Direction music outside of her mom's car. It was obvious she had taken the keys, rolled down the windows, and was playing the music loud enough so that she could have her own little dance party. I walked over, and immediately she turned the music down so that she could talk with Kali and I. I asked her questions about the music, their upcoming concert, etc... All of which Blair cant really answer because she can't talk very well. Out of the corner of my eye, i saw a woman staring at us from the catwalk that connected the adjacent neighborhood and the church parking lot. I could tell that she was a little bugged about the previous loud music, but was sure she could tell that Blair didnt know better and that the situation was now under control. She stood there for a few minutes, and then the next thing i knew.. This happened:
She walks up to Blair, and in a veryyyy rude, loud, disrespectful voice yells in her face something like this, "Ya know what?! Your music is soooo loud and you just realllyyyyy need to turn it down!" (keep in mind at this point, the music was off).. Mid sentence i looked at the lady and said calmly, "She's handicapped, please don't talk to her like that. You can talk to me about the music, but please don't treat her like that. She doesnt understand." At this point, the lady says, still completely pissed off, "Is this your car?!" to which i told her no, then she looks at Blair and asked her the same question. Blair mumbled in her own little language "MOM". The lady goes off about how since its not my car I have nothing to do with the situation and just need to 'butt out'. I simply said to her "I understand the music was loud but you do not have to treat her like that. She deserves some respect and for you to come yelling at her doesnt solve anything." (i am seriously shocked how calmly i handled this psycho.. i had all sorts of four letter words flying through my head)... She FLIPS out. She goes off about "i have been listening to that music for 40 minutes now (church had gotten out at 4:00, it was not about 4:20) and my kids are trying to play in the backyard and they cant because of this loud music. Ya know what, i deal with this all the time and i can call the cops!" I wanted to sarcastically tell her to call them, because i was sure they would loveee to explain to a handicapped teenager that playing the music loud isnt right. WTH lady. Now, this lady is up in my face yelling at me for who-knows-what! My mom, and Blair's mom walk out see this whole crazy thing happening, and walk over. At this point she is saying "Ya know what? You are an interesting lady! This has nothing to do with you.. SHE needs to learn to behave!" (I'm the interesting lady? youre the one yelling at a handicapped child about music that is turned off?) All i said to her was, "The music is not the issue! You have a right to have the music turned down, but you do not have the right to treat her like that!" ... Then she starts going off about how this is reverse discrimination and yada yada yada because "Where do you live? DO you want me to come BLAST music in your driveway?! Just cuz she is handicapped doesnt mean a thing!".... ok you looney lady. I've dealt with that before actually. Try living across the street from a high school for six months. Morning announcements were fun to wake up to at 7:30 every day!
Anyway, this lady was down right crazy. There were a few times i thought i was going to have to take off my heels and defend myself. I was soo angry that someone would everr treat another human like that,
especially one that clearly doesn't know better. I was tearing up trying to get this lady to calm down because the things she was saying were sooo disrespectful. I do not handle disrespectful people well. I am still a mess just thinking about this crazy lady. There are so many things i want to say to her now, but i am so grateful that i kept my 'filter' turned on!
People are crazy. And whether or not she was just having a bad day doesn't matter. I learned a huge lesson. We must constantly be striving to become more Christlike. Even when we are having the worst day ever, or life is hard. If we are always thinking about our Savior, our ability to handle hard things will become easier. I reallyyyyy need to work on that. (Clearly, because i had curse words flying through my head at this lady). This week, my goal is to try to think as Christ would. Maybe we should start a challenge? One week. Everyday try really hard to
think like Christ. Who's in?
Oh and while we're at it.. who wants to go egg this lady's house? hahahaha kidding of course.
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