Paying It Forward with a Twist

Paying it forward with a twist by Hector Enrique. 12/31/2013

I have never been a bully. I am 52 and a resident of Chicago. I have had my share of conflicts in my youth, to ensure I never was bullied by my peers and neighborhood idiots. I studied martial arts when I was younger etc. So here I am at age 52 and once in a while I find myself the victim of bullying by the youth of my community. I am not sure what I should do? I am not afraid to digress to the responsiveness of my youth, which always had a tendency to leave collateral damage both physically and mentally for anyone who mistakenly mistook quiet and courtesy for stupidity and weakness. However, before I start down that path again. I have to believe that with over three decades of life experience, there has to be a better way! I figured I would ask an objective 3rd party. What would be your recommended response to any or all of the following situations? I have provided what I feel is an appropriate response, you be the judge.

All of these incidents are fact, and have occurred in the last 5 months; I have had gum stuck to my laptop computer at the local McDonalds, Ice cubes and small change tossed at me from across a Starbucks and been the victim of verbal abuse several times at the Mall. Recently a group of 4 teenage boys was swearing it up at the local McDonalds. A mom with her two children asked these teens if they could “please; Guys… can you lose the swearing, I have my children here, we just want to eat lunch." She was direct and non-confrontational in my opinion. These well-dressed High School teens judging by the alma-mater I recognized on their hoodies , the mom was in her late 30’s. I sat there stunned, the blond boy with the louder voice told her to F-off and get her kids another .50 ice cream. "They are gonna hear this sh$# someday why wait." The other boys laughed got louder and swore more. I wanted to say or do something but I just sat and tried to not pay attention. I was not...