The Human Story

Having just arrived atop my favorite mountain ready for my usually tranquil and calming walk with my dogs, I came across this extremely abrasive woman. I was a few hundred meters away from her, heading towards one of my favorite walking paths when this woman starts swearing. Shit-this and shit-that. It took me a moment to realize that she was swearing at me and my dogs. My dogs are the friendliest, most non-aggressive dogs on the planet. I assumed she was freaking out because she herself had two dogs on a leash, which I always presume means the dogs are unfriendly. This woman’s cursing hit me like a slap in the face. To be more accurate, I felt like she had just spit in my face. I have met many strangers along my many walks with my dogs and they have all been kindred spirits; kind, happy, enjoying their surroundings. The peacefulness of the surroundings and my usual encounters were a sharp contrast to the energy this woman was giving off. I responded by calling my dogs and allowing her plenty of space to travel past; she was swearing the whole way, I might add. I couldn’t help but reflect on this incident after I had passed the woman. My mood had started to change after this encounter and I realized that I was angry at myself for not giving her a piece of my mind. Her behavior was rude and inappropriate and I should have told her so. I made a mental note that I need to be more assertive with people like this and then I put it out of my mind and continued on my way; relishing in my surroundings. Awhile later as I got towards the end of the footpath, I saw two dogs coming towards me and I heard the owners calling their dogs. I called out that my dogs were friendly and that it was okay. This nice-sounding woman called out that they had already been told off on their walk and they were afraid that I wouldn’t be happy with their dogs running loose. You could tell that the encounter she was referring to had negatively impacted on her and the people she was with. I had a brief, friendly exchange with them and then continued on my way, but on my way back I happened to catch up with these two women, their kids, and their dogs. We got to chatting and realized that we had a lot in common. These were truly two sincere, kind, considerate people and I felt blessed to crossed paths with them even if just for the 20 minutes that we walked together. As we were chatting, I asked these women if the person who had told them off was a woman with two dogs on a lead. They said indeed it was and that she had used the shit word quite profusely. As I was driving home afterwards, I thought about the severe impact that one miserable person can have on so many strangers. Her negative energy, that most likely stems from her own misery, is projected out at the world and lands (like spit) in the face of so many. In contrast, the friendliness and kindness of two other strangers can erase (or wipe off) the negativity in an instant. We forget or fail to realize, or in some cases don’t seem to care, of the immense impact that we have on our fellow human-beings.

I was born in the middle of a war zone. My father was a Danish diplomat who accepted a post in Lebanon during the civil war. I was born in the winter of 1979. My parents used to tell stories about gunfire erupting on the street as my mother was trying to put me into my car seat or trying to cross the street with my brother and I. Once my parents came home to find an unexploded missile lying on our living room floor. My brother, aunt and the other students and staff at the International School in Beirut were trapped inside the school once during a particularly hairy gunfight. When I was older and these stories were told to me, I never thought that living in such conditions was odd or unusual. This was just the way life was. We traveled and moved all over the world and we had adventures along the way. That was life. Needless to say my love of travel, adventure, and excitement was inevitable given the way I came into the world.

I don’t suppose it is the beginning to start blogging about my life in the middle of it. Yet every day is the beginning of something and I hope today is the start of a blogging adventure for me. I have started this blog in the hopes that there are many people out there who have gone through or are going through the things I have been experiencing over the past few years. I hope to find my voice and I hope there are people out there who want to listen and share their stories. It is terrifying to think that people might post negative comments, but if this process brings me some degree of inner tranquility then it’s worth the risk.