Be Kind, Dammit.

"You liberal fucking pussy. Mind your own fucking goddamn business."

As he yelled at me I started thinking maybe I should have and maybe I would have, but I had just left a lecture on psychoanalysis and a new world ethic -- seeing and interacting with people as full human beings.

It was after dark on a bridge crossing the Chicago river. He was a white guy in a trench-coat speaking to someone sleeping on the street. 

"Who did you vote for?" I heard him ask her.

I was already crossing the street but felt drawn to go back. So I deviated from my path. Waited on the light to change, and went back.

"Hey. Are you harassing or helping?" I asked with real curiosity since I wasn't sure what was going on. 

"I just asked who she voted for. If she voted for Romney I would have helped her." 

He'd been drinking. 

"So then you are harassing her. Why don't you leave her alone." 

"You fucking liberal pu..."

And so I walked away with him screaming for me to fight him. I could still hear him yelling a block away for me to come back and fight. No one sharing the sidewalk would make eye contact with me.