I Got Shouted At Today

I was cycling on a busy A road and she was walking along the pavement. As I couldn't exactly swerve into a car driving at the national speed limit, I quickly cycled past her. 

She screamed 'two metres!' at me and, from that moment onwards, my heart felt a little heavier. 

I could rant. 

I could say that she was totally in the wrong. 

That if she wanted to avoid people so badly, she should traverse the countless fields around her instead. 

That if she wanted to get away, she should go further into the path instead of expecting me to get run over by a car doing 70 mph. 

That all in all, she was being completely ignorant to the situation and unnecessarily rude. 

But I don't want to vent about it.  

Because, most of all, it just made me feel sad. 

It made me realise that people are too far into their own bubbles to realise the people they are passing are just that, people. However, due to the current environment, we see other humans as approaching risks. Risks to our health and possibly our lives. We see red. 

I noticed that as a world, we are so united yet so separated. And it all became a bit overwhelming. 

Often, admittedly, the sense of 'togetherness' can be felt. I'm currently living with my boyfriend and there have been several occasions where the true goodness of humanity has shown. We passed an elderly couple just a few days ago and the man called 'stay safe' from across the road with a friendly smile. 

My boyfriend's dad is a doctor, and his mum is the practice manager of the surgery. A while ago, they went to M&S and happened to question the staff on how they were doing. Their reply was that they felt mistreated, uncared for by their bosses and were deeply stressed. They had little provisions to practise basic hygiene, resultantly feeling vulnerable. 

So, my boyfriend's parents went back to their surgery and came back with hand sanitiser so they could feel just a little a bit safer. Today, the staff came to the practice and gave them a huge bag full of chocolatey goodness to say thank you for helping them, when they felt their anxiety soaring through the roof. 

So, like everything in life, there are good and bad bits. 

This is a crazy world that we live in, made even stranger by the big 'c word' plastered across everything we set our eyes on. It serves as a reminder that I need to focus on the kindness in the old man's eyes, and the gratefulness of the staff at M&S. Yes, I could dwell on the woman shouting at me as I tried to maintain as much distance as possible, but I'm not going to. 

She's probably going through a hard time like all of us and maybe, just maybe, a little more empathy goes even further than it ever has before.