I hate mean people

Today we went to the laundry- prices at the laundry are simply unbelievable, to do one regular size load of laundry cost us 10 dollars. In New York it's about 3 dollars- sometimes 4. We don't live in a posh neighborhood, and although it's not slummy it seems like one of those places that represent a space in between.

We put our laundry in and Sylvain went to go get a new key made for me, since the first one we had made did not function as a key should, by unlocking the door. While he was away I took out my new Kindle (thanks mom!) and commenced reading Jonathan Safran Foer's new book Eating Animals- already I was ticking off people I needed to pitch this book to- Schuyler, Loretta put it on your reading list...

Then three middle school age kids came in. In the past I have lived and worked in some of the most unsavory neighborhoods in the Bronx, the Lower East Side and Brooklyn, as a teacher I have seen young people do cruel and mean things to their peers. It's not that I thought kids were angels- on the contrary. I've seen plenty behaving badly. However, usually in some way real or perceived these kids had been "provoked" to behave badly by their friends, enemies or whomever. So it came as some surprise to me when these jeune francais took the garbage can and shut (chair back lodged under door knob style) the nice owner man who had gone in the back to get some tools as he was fixing a dryer. Two seconds later when he tried to push his way out the boys ran off in hysterical fits of laughter and Sylvain went to help the man out. He had already broken the door off but was still stuck. Call me sensitive but these sort of things break my heart and get me down. I hate mean people young or old. The boys found their trick hilarious, but I didn't. I have almost never been afraid of anyone I've ever run into in New York or for that matter, anywhere else I've lived but from the moment they came in, I was uneasy. First of all, they had no reason to be there, they were simply loitering, plus they were hanging out by our washing and playing with our laundry detergent. As a teacher I have advocated against the criminalization of youth, but instead of kids being kids, this was a situation that struck me deplorable. You see, they had not been provoked in any way by the owner and yet they decided to be cruel to him nonetheless, so, perhaps if Sylvain hadn't been with me, they would have played a trick on me sitting there innocently reading my Kindle. This is ultimately what worries me- the random act of violence. For more information see Happy Slapping...