To the Editor:
In response to the letter “Creston residents must watch out for seniors, not harm them”, I felt a compelling need to share my most unpleasant encounter with one of Creston’s senior citizens. Having grown up here, I realize that the majority of the residents are, in fact, seniors. However, this does not give the right for anyone, no matter what their age, to treat another human with less respect or decency.
My four-year-old daughter and I recently stopped by Paul’s Superette to purchase some scratch tickets as part of an upcoming anniversary gift. She didn’t comprehend what the scratch tickets even represented, only that she was so excited to be able to assist me in picking them out. There were no other customers in the building when we entered and the cashier was polite and ready to assist us.
Within a few moments, an elderly gentleman (I too use the term “gentleman” loosely, as I do believe his actions were anything but) entered the store and proceeded to walk to the cooler in the back to grab a bag of ice. The elderly man approached the counter with his ice and stood in line. Knowing there was someone waiting, I hurried my daughter and myself along with our purchases.
Apparently, “waiting” and “patient” were not vocabulary the elderly man was familiar with. Within a few seconds, he angrily turned, stomped to the back of the store and threw his bag of ice into the cooler, slamming the door afterwards. He then trudged out of the store. The cashier and I were astonished by his actions.
I collected my tickets and my daughter and I left the store only to be yelled at as we walked toward our vehicle. The elderly man had paused long enough to roll down his window and yell obscenities at my daughter and myself. I responded by asking him if he was a grandfather and if he knew what the word “patience” meant. He screamed, “No, I hate kids! And now I know why I never have had a wife either!”
Shaking my head in disbelief, I turned to my daughter only to see the frown on her face and to hear the question, “Mommy why was that man so mad at me? What did I do wrong?” I explained that she hadn’t done anything wrong and that there are, unfortunately, some very angry people in the world we live in. Within a moment, he sped off out of the parking lot, narrowly missing another car on his way.
How does one explain such immature behavior from an adult, a senior citizen, to a four-year-old child? I believe we all know who the real child was in this situation.
I was quite upset with how this man misbehaved, but realized by the time that I returned home that I should actually feel sorry for him. Being the age that he was, he was obviously so miserable with his own insecurities and his own failures in life that in order to feel better about himself, he needed to verbally attack a woman and child.
So if you are the elderly man I am referring to from this incident reading this letter, I hope you find some peace within yourself before it’s too late. I’m pretty sure your bag of ice would have stayed frozen during your wait in line, given the current weather and time of year. You couldn’t possibly use the excuse, “My ice was melting” — besides your cold heart could not have thawed that bag!
M.N. Rejman
Creston