Got yelled at by a random person today. “You F*&#ing Arab” – His words chased after me as I kept running further and further away. I was on a run at the beach. The perfect day to get my legs back after taking a 4 month break.

The runner’s path sits right alongside the biker’s trail here in Redondo. I saw him, up ahead, walking my way so I veered into the bike lane to get past him. But he broke too, and entered the bike lane. I looked up and he was coming right at me. No, he was coming right for me. His eyes were dead-locked towards me and he kept veering more and more into my path. As we came within an arm’s stretch he just started yelling: “Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea”. I felt the saliva from his screams land on my arm as I brushed past him. Sweat was beading off his face. I outmaneuvered him but he kept yelling, “F*&# you Arab”.

Then he just wouldn’t stop. I glanced back and he was just standing there spewing the words over and over, “You F*&#ing Arab, You F*&#ing Arab”. I ran further and further away but despite our distance, he kept going as loud as he could. I could hear the words wash past me even after a few minutes.

At first I thought he was picking a fight with me. But, I was in too good a mood to even engage. When he wouldn’t stop shouting, I realized that it had nothing to do with me – he was just trapped in his own psychosis. People had stopped to stare, both at me and at him. I kept running but he must have looked so strange paused there in the middle of a bike path yelling at the space between us. In that moment, I just felt sorry for him.

When I circled back around, I couldn’t find him. It saddened me. I would have talked to him if I had found him calmer the second time around. I would have asked him to run with me for a little while – maybe some company and some exercise could have done him well. I don’t know if I could have changed his views on Arabs but maybe I could have eased his anger just a little.

I wish I could say that it’s the first time. Or that it only happens to me. In reality this was nothing. Better people than me suffer worse all the time. I thought about all the people that have been struck down, spat at, yelled at or worse for no reason other than their color, their religion, their orientation or their beliefs. Despite all that I have seen, I know I’m one of the lucky ones.

Despite it feeling commonplace, it was still mystifying. This – just three days after Las Vegas. Like the world just hasn’t had enough of anger yet. Like there is still more there. Enough to billow over onto the beautiful path at the Redondo beaches.

I don’t know what it is that would cause a person to impose their will onto others who are just running along the bike path or are attending a concert. Why the desire to subjugate? I try to watch myself. Try not to get in people’s way. Try not to veer people off their path. I think I command a strong enough presence in this world – but it all comes from letting people be who they are.

There must be something missing from a man’s life if he feels he has to take something from someone else. In a way, I can feel the pain of the man that yelled at me. Something terrible must be happening inside if he can’t see the beautiful day unfolding around him and he wants to drown out the sound of the tiny waves lapping against the beachy shore.