Flirting with a fight. Two crazy men.

(note: this was first published on the Chinatown Blog)
Walking around with my son strapped to me can be a hassle, but I usually don't have a problem with people. People usually smile and are quite friendly with my son. The only problem I have is with owners of large dogs perhaps. If my son is on the grass I will pick him up or if he is in a stroller I will keep my distance. Some owners of large dogs don't like that I am implying that their dog is unfriendly and will argue with me that there dog is quite friendly and that I am being ridiculous. Also, I have heard that my face is naturally angry looking and so maybe they are offended by this too. However, I feel that I am not bothering them or their dog and I have the right and perhaps the responsibility to put distance and my body between my 1 year old and a friendly animal that has teeth and is large enough to eat my child.

Th thing is, when I walk around without my son, sometimes I get in trouble with people. Usually these people are crazy, but I know that my face and its naturally angry expression, coupled perhaps with my near sightedness which makes me squint at things I am trying to read, or people I am trying to determine if I recognize, makes people feel that it is necessary to give me trouble.

And now, the first crazy man.

I was walking to teach a Kung Fu class for children at the CCBA. I noticed a man staring at me very hard. I thought " Do I know this man?" In fact his face did look familiar. He looked like someone who had visited the Kung Fu School before. Perhaps he recognized me too. I wasn't sure. I will clarify right now that the man was Caucasian.

I walked up the steps and he was pushing a metal dolly on the street. He had now stopped walking and was standing there staring at me about twenty feet away or so.

I turned around and sad "Hi." in the way I usually say hi to Chinese parents and grandparents who I think I recognize from having taught their kids. Schoolteachers are in this category as well.

"Hi nuth'n." came the response.

"Oh I though maybe you were looking at me because you recognized me or something." I said. I felt the tension but I made efforts to smooth it over.

" Yeah well..." the man twitched and getsured, "You were looking at me!"

"Oh I see," I said. I wanted to just end this and go upstairs to the class I was now late for. But his anger was annoying me.

"Don't bother me alright!" he yelled "You think you are a tough guy! You aren't a tough guy so play tough guy somewhere else not here!. I've got this right here!" he yelled and slammed the metal dolly onto the ground now.

"Oh you are right" I said, "I am not a tough guy. Do you have some sort of problem with me though?" I was calm but I won't say my adrenaline was not pumping now. And now I will say this. Sometimes there is something bad about practicing too much Kung Fu. For instance if you practice Salsa dancing all the time, if the situation is right and a woman wants to salsa dance, it will be difficult for you to turn her down. This is okay as long as you aren't married to someone who is jealous. The same is true of other intimate activities. Maybe the woman is married, or too young for you, but there is that temptation even if you know that you will decline.

Now if you practice Kung Fu all the time and someone is willing to fight with you, it is the same. It can be difficult to turn down, even if that person is crazy and may not be right in the head, you just see a body that is strong and possibly able to fight, perhaps that person is a martial artist. You will want to try even if you know you shouldn't.

I thought about how he was sort of threatening me with a metal dolly, but he wasn't attacking me. I would have to go over to him and attack him. What would people say if they saw that? I would be in the wrong. I couldn't justify fighting him. He continued yelling at me saying "If you want to have a problem I'm standing right here!"

If he was just crazy, then this was a misunderstanding. He also had a twitch and a cross eyed look that didn't quite look right.

I asked him, "Did somebody pay you to come after me or something?" Now perhaps I sound crazy. But he had been staring at me, and I still think this was the same person who had been in the school before. But I could be wrong.

I forget how he responded but I wanted to know what he was doing there with the dolly. I.e. did he just happen to be there or was he looking for me. In fact, he did seem to be looking for me, and his anger did seem to be made up or at least out of place. Was this an act or was he just slightly off balance upstairs? Was I being paranoid? He sure was annoying me.

"So... what are you doing here anyway?" I asked.

"What is he doing here?" He nodded at nobody.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"What is Kong Tzu doing here?" he yelled Kong Tzu said be mindful of your words. You should be mindful of your words pal."

I now realized he was referring to the statue of Kong Zhi (Confucious). Kong Tzu perhaps being a bastardization of Kong Zhi and either Lao Tzu (Dao te Ching author) or Sun Tzu (Art of War author) mistakes aside, he obviously new something of Chinese Culture and who the statue was supposed to be of. This makes me think even more that he had been at the school before and was someone who I recognized. The normal response to my initial "Hi." though should have been a similar greeting if he remembered me or wasn't here to start trouble. Anyway, somehow I went upstairs allowing him to have the last word and of course implying that I was not man enough to face him.

Part of me is still feeling as if I should have fought him, but to run across the street and attack him also seemed ridiculous, illegal, and would make me the crazier one.

I start teaching the kids class with Meditation and stretching.

Enter crazy man number two.

An old man this one was, also Caucasian.

He began by asking then demanding something in writing from my Si Hing who was treating a patient. He was demanding something regarding his knee and then and only then would he be willing to take classes here. My Si Hing had seen him before and it was only after this old man started insulting my Si Hing and our Kung Fu based on his having been a Japanese Samurai Warrior in his last three past incarnations did I realize that he was a little off.

I got up from stretching and asked him to leave. I told him he was not welcome in the room if he was disrespectful to our instructors. He said he was leaving but was still standing in the door way now spewing more insults which were beginning to turn obscene and he was making threats at this point too. He was saying all sorts of things which I won't repeat and many of which I don't remember. But I didn't exactly feel threatened because he was an old man. But he was becoming a hassle.

"What are you going to do?" He said almost out the door, "Hit me?"

"No but I will call the police."

"Oh yeah right." he said

I moved forward and was able in a quick motion to shut the door before he could catch it.

"You @%@%#@%" he said, "I'm going to call the police!"

Guess what. I called the police. And actually I would like feed back from other people on what I should have done.

Yes I could "handle" the old man. But what are the legalities of that.

Anyway, he returned later and said, "The police are on their way. You can deal with them when they get here."

"I know. I called them."

"Yeah right" he said.

I had opened the door again thinking he had gone.

"Please step back so I can close the door. He did. And I closed it. So he wasn't physically belligerent. (In the past I have dealt with a drunk who wandered into the old school and pulled out a knife. Guess what? Also an old white man.)

The police arrived and I did talk to them. I did feel silly because this old guy wasn't a threat, but I didn't want to put my hands on him. What if I did? I felt that the police sort of thought I should have handled it myself and the guy had left right as the police showed up. (Apparently he ranted and raved downstairs as well.) But if I handle it am I protected by law?

Anyway, at this point I realize it was a good thing I didn't decide and escalate the first crazy guy situation until it came to blows. If I had, when the old crazy guy situation came up, I would have no credibility as a sane person.

Ever since Our school moved from Tai Tung, I haven't had to deal with many crazy people. At Tai Tung, we were on the first floor and I slept there often with the door open because the elderly person that slept there couldn't breath without the door open. So I would deal with anyone that came in, all night long. I realize this lack of sleep and dealing with crazy people made me harder and perhaps age faster. Dealing with these two crazy guys brought all that back.

I guess that's why I'm writing this at midnight instead of sleeping.

Tomorrow we celebrate Double Ten at City Hall so time to sleep.

-Adam

Hacked.

Someone recently hacked into my e-mail and started spamming a (I thought) unbelievable story about how I was in the UK and needed money. At first I thought it wouldn't be a big deal but a couple of people thought it was true. Even if nobody sent money (which I hope nobody did) it still caused some stress for some relatives etc. I also had to open a new account, couldn't shut down the old one, change my bank accounts, notify college loan people, and it got into my facebook. I didn't think this would matter but I suppose I have grown attached to facebook and that type of communication where I can see everyone's updates. Even if I choose not to I know that I was connected to that many people if I wanted to share photos look at photos etc.

I have always thought that facebook in many ways is similar to the idea of the Borg on Star Trek. Except, back then they made the borg seem grungy and miserable. But if you think about it, why wouldn't there technology look super cool and sleek? why wouldn't all the men and women look gorgeous? Look at the robots that the Japanese have made recently that look like humans. On face book people can choose to put more or less of themselves out there. But think about it, If everyone shared everything you would in a way have privacy because everything would be hidden by the greater whole.

Though people always talk bad about facebook, having that total consciousness is a lot like the Buddhist notion of interconnectedness too. just a thought.