This was the question asked to me today by an older man in a white van covered in ladders and missing paint. I assume he asked me this because he saw me talking to myself as I walked through the parking lot of the nearby strip mall on my way to the grocery store.
Nothing came of it, I answered in the affirmative, and he asked a second question, the exact words of which I've since forgotten, and then moved on with his day. It's bothered me ever since though, mainly because I had been minding my own business when he decided to make an issue out of me being weird.
I've had a few examples of this happen in the past. In one such instance the question was "are you homeless?"
In all cases, I was minding my own business. I may or may not have been talking to myself in all cases, but the only other constant is that I was a pedestrian in all cases (I don't drive and haven't had a license in several years). And while there are very few sidewalks here and no road shoulders to speak of (all the roads have curbs right up against the outermost traffic lanes), I still find it hard to believe that people would ask me such a stupid question over me walking down the street with a backpack on.
But here's the thing: in all cases where this has happened, the "concerned" people were not only driving, but also doing so recklessly. The old fart whipped his van around, and almost hit another van that was parked near where he addressed me, and the woman who asked if I was homeless crossed the street so the front of her car was facing the traffic coming the other way because I was on the other side of the road from where she was driving. Why does my existing as a pedestrian talking to himself give you the right to stop paying attention to the road and endanger everyone else using it? Am I so much of a problem for you that asking me stupid questions is worth you risking a head-on collision with another car?
My point is that I'm not dangerous simply because I talk to myself. I'm fully aware of my surroundings. In fact, I stepped back a bit when I saw the man in the van approaching because it looked like he might get too close and possibly hit me if I didn't. I'm looking around, I'm watching traffic, I'm making sure I'm not in another person's way... and this dude almost hits me and a parked vehicle with a van because he's "concerned."
When I was still driving, I learned to never take my eyes off the road. I learned in Driver's Ed and I also learned it when I rear-ended someone who had stopped in front of me, when I was busy chatting up with someone in the passenger seat. Not paying attention on the road is A Very Bad Thing To Do. And yet these "concerned" people worried that I might be dangerous or mentally unstable don't seem the slightest bit bothered by the wrecks they almost cause in their pursuit of that all-important chance to ask me if I'm okay.
Buddy, I have far more reason to be scared of you than you will ever have to be scared of me. Leave me alone, stop paying attention to that weirdo in the parking lot talking to himself, and PAY ATTENTION TO THE GODDAMNED ROAD, YOU IDIOT!!!!!
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1 week, 3 days ago
22 Sep 2025 20:29 CEST
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