Walk on by and friends with fringe bnefits...
Today on my weekly agony slot on Dublin News talk radio after 10 AM, one dilemma I'll be answering is about if you can be friends with fringe benefits…er… if the other person knows that you just want to be friends only and that you're not letting them think you're falling in love with them too!
Reading today that we've become a walk on by nation reminded me of an incident that happened to me a year ago on a particularly hot summer's day. Right in front of me a woman threw down a burning cigarette onto the side of the pavement (near a dry grass shoulder) as she started to enter a bank. I politely called out, "excuse me but your burning cigarette is a fire hazard in this weather."
She unleashed such a foulmouthed tirade about it not being any of my business that I resolved never to put myself in that situation again. The fury in her eyes was enough to make me feel I might come under physical attack.
TODAY’S THOUGHT: Previously I never would've thought twice about intervening in small ways. But that one incident made me realise how people can have such a short fuse that it's simply not worth risking getting involved unless I was with a group of people and felt there was safety in numbers.
And across the nation I imagine people are reading this report today and admitting to themselves that they are also likely to walk on by. But how can things ever change and improve if we all shy away from the bad behaviour of others?
It's the perennial question of not putting yourself at personal risk but wanting to stand up for your community and let people know that even minor transgressions are part of the puzzle that damage our country. Would love to hear from you in "your e-mail of the week" of such experiences.
On a lighter note wishing I could go see Mark Ronson DJ tonight in town - know someone going and it's going to be a fantastic evening.
Take care, Pam X