Thread.

So, I'm on my way to lead a yoga class this morning, right? Windows down, music on, enjoying a lovely, breezy morning.

(This is what the back of my car looks like; it's important to the story.)

I'm at a stop light in Dover (by the Chili's, for locals' reference) and a black pickup pulls up in the lane next to me. They guy at the wheel starts SCREAMING at me. Like, legit screaming.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" he yells. "YOU'RE A BRAINLESS, BRAINWASHED CUNT. GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY COUNTRY!"

I'm sitting there, facing forward, pretending not to hear him, totally gobsmacked by this (though I shouldn't be. This isn't the first time something like this has happened; I was accosted at a light in Manchester a couple of years ago on my way to @ProgressNH annual meeting)

Fortunately, he turned off and I continued on (I'm always afraid of being followed by people like him). I shook the whole way to the park, wondering what, exactly, set him off. Was it the pride flag? Was it the "fight racism" sticker?

Imagine if I'd had my @1aprildaniels sticker on this car; how would THAT have gone over with my angry little friend

I wonder; what is it that makes someone *so* angry, so belligerent, that they feel entitled to scream obscenities at perfect strangers on the road? Did it make him feel more like a man to try to intimidate me (for the record, I never acknowledged I heard him; I never looked at

him or gave any indication that I was ever aware that he was there)? What was his objective in screaming at me in that way? This is a mindset that, gratefully, is beyond my ability to comprehend; I would never, in a MILLION years, do what he did. Like, who *does* that?!

I can't imagine how horrible it must be to be him, to be that angry and that aggressive that screaming at strangers is a thing that he does. What scares me is this; if he's willing to scream at someone, would he escalate to assault? How do we, as a culture, address this?

/fin

I relay this story bc I want everyone within the proverbial sound of my voice to really think about what kind of culture allows for behavior like this.

What can we start doing as a community to see to it that peoples' needs are met so that they're not so angry and frightened all the time?