So, today, I was kind of sad, and I was driving home, and I saw a white man sitting on the side of the road. He had pulled his truck over, and there was a stray dog, the kind of brindled pitbull mix that you find so often, loose by the side of the road. The truck had its blinkers on, and the man was sitting, legs wide apart in a v-shape. I think he was trying to get down on the level of the pup, and coax him over to him, away from traffic. It was obvious he had pulled his truck over, just to help the dog.
I saw a black man with dreadlocks walking towards the other man. He was dressed in a mishmash of stuff, and I guess he was just walking along and came across the guy with the truck. I was sitting in stand still traffic, so this all took place in about ten minutes. The man with the dreadlocks walked up to the man sitting on the ground, and said something, and the man on the ground smiled up at him, and the man with the dreadlocks sat down, too, with the same v-leg position, and they were both talking and occasionally raising a hand towards the dog, and both watched the dog. I had the urge to get out of my car and go sit with them. And I smiled, and the light changed to green. My heart was full.
And tonight, I saw a comment on a friend’s facebook post. It read simply: “It is time for ethnic cleansing.”
And my heart shattered.
Edited to add: My friend’s original post did not say this, but a friend of theirs made the comment ON my friend’s post. Hope that makes sense. I would have zero tolerance for that within my friends.