My wife and I had driven a few hundred miles from the West Coast to Granite Hot Springs, WY, looking forward to a hot soak amid the beautiful wilds. We got there to find five young men playing raucously in the water, replaying the famous movie scene from dirty dancing when Baby jumps into Patrick Swayze’s two-handed lift.They were goofing off, which was fine enough, but it dominated the entire pool, and the ladies they were showing off for were sitting abashedly to the sides a little embarrassed. It is one of my great pet peeves when going into nature to come across other campers or explorers who pollute the natural quiet with noise and chatter. When the mountains call, we can only hear them in stillness. I wanted to thump them on the head with a shout of ‘wake-up and shut-up.’ After literally five minutes of the five person Three Stooges I got out of the water and walked up the stairs, and as I turned my back to them, I flipped them off my back hand in their general direction. I did not do it to be obvious, and I did not care if I was seen, which was a good thing, because I was. One of them called out to the others, “hey, that guy just flipped us off.” I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation because I had gone into the change room, but I felt my instincts turn on and go into prep for fight. I found out later, from my wife, who in this case acted the part of the admirable role model far more than me, that the guys were talking about whether to go after me, if I was small or big, and the like. She waded through the water among them — somehow her called on their decorum — then went and spoke to the manager about it all who then intervened. Long story short, after a while, one of the crew apologized, we shook hands, and off we went on our ways.
But I was trembling with indignation. I also behaved like a fool. It could have been much worse. And it all could have been prevented with a simple “Excuse me, please, but would you mind if …”
I’m not a hypocrite, I do my best to practice what I teach in my classes, and what my teacher showed by example. But, damn, sometimes I fail. Today, my shadows got the better of me.
All I have left now is to ask, “What can I learn from this?”