USS Clueless: Earth to Timi

I headed over to the North Side of the city to pick up something from a cousin. Once I left my cousin's house, I decided that I wanted a water ice from Rita's on Market St. I left Rita's & decided that it would be a good idea to get lunch from G&P because I knew that if it got busy at work, then I'd have no time to leave out for lunch. So I parked down the street from G&P. I got out of my car and proceed up the street. The 3 women were walking towards me. Two gave me dirty looks. The other wasn't paying attention to me. I heard one of the women say, "I'm not moving, so she can just slide to the right."

I was cool. My motto is to be non-confrontational. I'm a dignified girl. I'm mature & I'm a Christian, so there is no reason for me to be out acting a fool. I stepped to the right and I kept walking. I noticed that when I moved to the right, the chick who made the comment scooted a little left. I didn't pay it much attention, so I moved little to the right again being cautious as to not brush up against someone's fence. The lady moved more to the left, and we bumped shoulders when we passed by each other. Then a big issue ensued. She said, "I know this bourgeois a** girl did not just bump into me!" Once again, I tried to be the mature one. I said, "Pardon me. I'm really sorry. I did not mean to bump into you."

I proceeded up the street again. She starts running off at her mouth and begins to walk my way. Her friends were laughing. She was talking some real serious stuff to me. I let it ride. She ran up on me & by this time a crowd was beginning to watch. I stopped at the corner of 29th St. and I turned around. She was about 5 or 6 ft away from me. She was still running her trap. I said, "Look. I said that I was sorry. I'd appreciate it if you just let me go on my way." She seemed to get louder after that. She called me a white chick who didn't belong on that side of town. She told me that "Goody" chicks get beat down in the hood. The verbal assaults just kept coming.

All the while, I'm getting angrier and angrier. I felt tears forming in my eyes, but I refused to cry. I would not give this heifer the satisfaction. All the while, I'm forgetting the fact that I'm dignified, I'm mature, I'm educated & I'm a Christian. I'm putting aside the analytical peacemaking instincts that reside within me. My hood instincts began to cloud all that was my being at that point. The Black College Grad who now slaves in Corporate America slowly crept out, and "The Little Black Girl from 5th St. who had to learn to fight to protect herself" took over. A girl that I grew up with just happened to be in the vicinity. She ran over to me, and asked me everything was cool. She saw the angry resentment in my eyes. She didn't say anything. Without asking, she took my purse, told me to give her my glasses and stepped back.

The girl was still running her mouth. So I walked up to her and threw my fists up. I said, "You got more mouth than action. What's up?" She took off her chain & some other stuff. She began to walk closer to me. She got within about 3 feet of me and she stopped. Had she taken another step toward me, I would've started swinging. I began to walk closer to her and she stepped back. She said, "I'm not going to fight you. I just bought this outfit." I was like, "Nah. You had all that mouth. Fight me!" She began talking again, but this time she was walking away talking the trash. One of the girls with her stepped in front of me. I back up in position to swing on her too. She assures me that everything is ok and that she doesn't want any beef. She apologized for her friend, and told me that fighting wasn't worth it.

She helped me come to my senses. I'm too old to be street brawling. I took my purse, put on my glasses, went back to my car & drove off. I was still really angry. I began to cry. I should've walked off. But I know, had I walked off, she would've snuck me from behind. That's still no excuse. I'm to turn the other cheek right? As much as I hate to admit it, I have not mastered the "turn the other cheek" philosophy quite yet. I'm not there in my walk with Christ at this moment. I still feel awful about what happened. Why me? Why am I always the one who gets put to the test? This is not cool. This is not cool at all.