Recently my 91 year old father went into a local grocery store. As he was leaving he found the flat crosswalk at the store entrance blocked by a huge pick-up truck that parked illegally right in front of the doors. My dad saw a man get out of the truck and decided to say, “Excuse me, this is a no parking zone. Can you please move your truck so we can safely go around?” The guy responded, “You just take care of your groceries old man and I’ll take care of how I park.” My fragile old father was forced to go over a big curb with his shopping cart because the man would not move his truck.

I am certain my dad thought about saying much more to the man but he did not. My father was very proud of himself when he told me, “I did not ego-box with him. I just did the best I could to stay safe. I refused to let that rude man upset me.”

No matter how young or old, we always have a choice NOT to engage with people who don’t respect themselves enough to respect others. In 91 years my dad learned what I am also grateful to now know. We cannot reason with unreasonable people. Being a rude ass is a choice but so is refusing to stoop to the behavior a rude ass chooses for himself. Way to go dad!