Slide

A (straight) friend of mine said that the Annie Lennox Bare CD was too gay for him. My first thought was, "Too gay for you? Since when has anything but dressing up exactly like Madonna been too gay for you?" I didn’t even show any indignation at all or call out his show tune singing self over it. I let that one slide.

On an entirely different level:
Some jackass called my boyfriend a fucking faggot. Let me tell ya, guys - there’s a way to call a man a fucking faggot, and a way to call a man a fucking faggot and get your eyes clawed out. He grabbed me by the arm when I made a move toward Jackass, and I knew that he couldn’t really afford any more trouble, so I let that one slide. For now. Wait until I see you out somewhere alone, Jackass. Or hell, bring your friends and we’ll all have us a row.

Incidentally, between the time I started this blog and the time that I posted it, my roommate called me a fucking faggot, showing off in front of his friends. I didn’t punch him in face like I wanted to. I slapped him instead, hard enough to leave a hand print. I walked away, hoping that he would escalate hostilities and get his friends in the fray. While most of you don’t know this about me, I am perfectly capable of kicking multiple ass. Well, he didn’t. I almost let that one slide. It’s stirred up a lot of mud for me and I’ll write about that more.

I was in the Dollar Store the other day, and this asshole was giving the teen-aged clerk a hard time. I stared a hole in the back of his head until he turned around and gave me a little nod. I gave him my "Please Die" look and turned away. I wanted to ask him if his dick was so small that it made him feel better to disrespect a child. But I didn’t because I knew that given my frame of mind, any confrontation would have ended badly for him. So I let that one slide.

I’ve let a lot of shit slide. It’s a lot easier to shut up than to take a stand. Would you defend someone if you knew that you had a good chance of getting hurt or arrested? How far is too far before words fail? Not very damn far, in my experience.