Not My Best Moment

There they were on the corner. Perhaps five of them holding their self-righteous placards of hatred. They didn't look like monsters and yet their goal is monstrous. Those people and many more like them want to take away the civil liberties of a significant portion of the California population. Those people and many more like them want to pass a proposition that would take away the right of men and women to marry. Those people and many more like them live in constant states of terror -- afraid that if two women marry or two men marry then those people and many more like them will be forced to marry a goat or a hamster or a daddy long legs spider. Their reasoning is absurd. However, their hatred is manifold.
We were riding along, my friend and I, following that now infamous tow truck to my neighborhood garage. The mere sight of those people and their placards and their self righteous expressions immediately raised my blood pressure to an alarming level. I felt the top of my head would explode and cover them with my pulsing, angry brain. I rolled down my passenger side of the car window at first to breathe in some of California's excuse for fresh air. I didn't organize the words that flew out of my mouth in a shout the minute air entered my lungs. But there they were hurling at them -- that famous two word vulgarity involving activities done under the consent of the king and a much maligned bodily orifice. Then, apparently anticipating a complete lack of comprehension on the part of those people, I added emphasis with my index finger. My friend echoed my sentiments in an even louder voice.
Clearly the two of us had suffered an empathic breakdown in the extreme.
It wasn't my finest moment nor was it hers.
Come to think of it, though, the fact that this issue is even on the ballot does not reflect a fine moment for justice and respect and constitutional rights.
Looking back on the events that lasted no more than a few seconds, I don't even think they noticed us. Hatred, it seems, can dull all senses.