dealing with meanie-heads

This weekend I had the displeasure of having to deal with the rudest man I have ever met...ever. It was absolutely shocking to me that someone though they were for some reason entitled to treat another human being with so much disrespect.

Now this is not the first time that I have run into people like this, all with their own varying reasons to justify their actions. I have just never met anyone like this man. There have been a couple of...well how do I say it...real jerks that I have run into while in Australia. So my message for this week is that if any of my international readers are unlucky enough to run into these jerks, I hope that you will be able to walk away from the situation with your healthy views of Australia intact.

Something that came as a surprise to me when I first moved here is that some people are not as happy about foreigners coming to their country as others are. Being that I am white and American, it is not very often that I run into too many oppositions. However, I am aware that some people have very strong prejudices towards other races. One thing that I have found is that for every person that has something mean to say to me, there are many many many people who love having me here. And I am sure that stands true for all the rest of you.

Although these people are very rarely polite, I am trying to talk about this subject as delicately as possible so as not to offend anyone. The only advise that I can give is to not waste your time, effort, or words on someone that chooses to be so ignorant. I know that sometimes it can feel really satisfying to throw out a quick witted reply or to just down right tell them what you think abut them. Believe me, it won't be worth it and you'll probably just end up getting into more trouble than it was worth. Just turn your back on them, walk away and remember that person is only one in a million.