I went to the supermarket this afternoon to pick up some stuff for lunch and for dinner. To give you a little bit of a back story, I've been going to that supermarket for well over twenty years.
 
As I was pulling into this parking spot—a parking spot I have pulled into an uncountable number of times before, this flashback came to my mind. It was a time, maybe twenty years deep and I was going to that supermarket in the early afternoon. It was a cloudy day in SoCal, I remember that. And, I pulled into the parking spot with little thought. I then went into the supermarket, also with little thought. As I was returning to my car, I saw this elderly gentleman shoving a shopping cart into the front fender of my car. I, of course, speeded up my pace, with my groceries in hand, yelling “Hey!” I approached the man, asking him why did he smack the shopping cart into my car? He, of course, denied the fact. He said it was already there, and he was just pulling it loose from my car. Liar!
 
Looking at my car, which was at that time a 2002 Honda Civic, I noticed that a rather large crease had been shoved into my front left fender, in the area just above the front tire.
 
This was pretty upsetting. I certainly wasn't wealthy at that time, meaning it wasn't something that I could just easily go and quickly have repaired. And, it's one of those things that you can't really report to the insurance company or they're going to raise your rates.
 
But, that's not really the point to all of this; is it? I asked the man, why did he do it? He kept denying that he did. I looked at him, very deeply in the eyes, just to let him know that I knew the truth. But again, what could I do?
 
Sure, I could have kicked his ass. That would have been pretty easy to do. But then I would have probably ended up in jail. I could have yelled and screamed at him. But, what would that prove? It wouldn’t change what he did—it wouldn't change his life and make him become a better person. I could have called the cops. But, he would have just deny what he did to them as he did to me. Thus, all of what I could dos would have solved nothing. Me, I was left with a dent in the left front fender of my car.
 
Like I say, I was kind of going through a poor stretch back then, and I didn't really have the money to immediately get it fixed. Every time I saw it, however, it really upset me. I really wanted to get it repaired to just forget about the incident.
 
Finally, when I got a royalty check from one of my publishers, and this was about three months later, I was able to pay to have my car fixed. I took it to one of those paintless dent removal places, and they removed the dent very nicely, I must say. It cost me about three hundred bucks to get it done.
 
But, to the point of all of this… There I was, having to deal with something bad that someone else had done.  …Done to me. ...And, what did that doing really prove but to mess up my life?
 
Maybe that's what that guy wanted to do??? I don’t know? He didn't know me. I didn't know him. But, he just wanted to fuck with somebody. Why? Who knows? I guess just because he was existing in the space of the Really Small Mind. …Desiring to hurt someone else/anyone else for whatever he had lived through/whatever had been done to him/whatever he was feeling—feeling for whatever reason, and this was his only resolve to that emotion, to hurt the life of someone else.
 
I imagine we've all gone through somewhat of a similar circumstance. Someone hurt us for no good goddamn reason. I mean, hopefully you haven't… But, most of us probably have experienced something like this, to some degree or another.
 
I believe all of this takes us to the level of deeper thought. A place where we really need to question the reality that we live in, and the reality that we project.
 
I mean, really think about this… Let's take this away from the victim mentality and take it to the perpetrator mentality. Think about your own life. Who have you hurt? Did you hurt them intentionally like this guy did to me? If you did, why did you do it? Did you do it so they would feel the pain you feel? Did you do it because you felt you had the right to do it? Did you do it because you felt you could get away with it? Did you do it because you felt they deserved it? Or, did you do it for no specific reason?
 
A lot of people in this world, I would guess probably most, live in a space of Unrefined Consciousness. Meaning, they do what they do without really giving it any thought. They just act. They just react. …Driven by whatever emotion and/or whatever unresolved feelings that they may possess.
 
How does that pertain to you? Do you behave in this manner?  
 
Again, let's go back to the question, whom have you hurt and why have you hurt them? And, if you have hurt them, have you ever gone back and repaired the damage that you created? Did you ever repair the dent in their left front fender of their car?
 
I believe that some low-minded people actually get lost in the fact that they have the right to do whatever they want to do, say whatever they want to say, and hurt whomever they want or hurt. Sure, there's Free Speech and all of that kind of stuff in places like the United States. Sure, some people are bad-assed brawlers. But, words equal actions, equal pain. And, if you have caused someone pain, what do you think that that has done to your life? Did you ever look at what happened to your life next after you did something that hurt someone else? Did you ever study the repercussions that you may have experienced? And, if you didn't, what does that say about the higher state of your mental being? Doesn’t it mean you just don't give a fuck? And if you don't give a fuck, what does that say about your true human nature?
 
Like I say, we probably all have experienced something like what I am speaking about. …The attack unleashed by some other person throughout the progression of our lives.
 
At best, all we can do is deal with the repercussions as best as we can deal with them. Save up the money, and eventually get the fender fixed.
 
But, all of this comes down to the deeper level of YOU. Because YOU are the ultimate causation factor in the All and the Everything. It's you who has the ability to smash that shopping cart into somebody's left front fender. It's also you, no matter what your anger level is, no matter what your level of frustration is, no matter what has happened to you in the past, no matter whatever exists in the all of your everything of your life, it is YOU who has the ability to make the choice to never hurt anyone.
 
The person who never hurts anyone is the greatest person that can exist.
 
So, who do you want to be? How do you want to be defined and remembered? As someone who has hurt someone? Or, as a person who is thought of as someone who always helped everybody and never hurt anyone? And, if you did hurt anyone, you repaired all the damaged you created?
 
Your life, your choice.
 
As for me, I never saw that guy again. What happened to him, who knows? I've parked in that parking spot so many times, I can't even remember how many. I've lived in this neighborhood a long, long time. But, just like today, what that guy did to me will always be in my mind. I may not be thinking about it all the time, but every now and then, when I pull into that parking space, that bad deed will come to mind. And, it will make me question why some people do what they do. Why do some people do what they do?
 
My advice, hurt no one. Then, not only does the life of everyone else, but your own life, become a much better place.