The Nest

Freedom of Expression

Posted Tuesday, July 17, 2007 10:33 AM

I witnessed the most bizarre and hateful thing on Sunday, and I have to share it.

My husband and I went to Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop on Sunday.  We were sitting close to a mom and her daughter, who was probably about 16 years old.  At another table was an older man, perhaps in his late 70s or early 80s, and his younger wife.  The young girl was dressed in goth-type clothing, including a pair of black jeans with the Nazi symbol with a circle around it and a line going through it (the universal symbol for "no" or "ban").

As the old man got up to leave the ice cream shop, he walked over to the young girl and immediately began yelling at her.  He said, "You don't know what freedom is!  I fought for freedom and you just make a joke of it."

Now, I am very outspoken and would have ripped that man apart, yelling back with, "That freedom you fought for is what allows me to wear whatever clothing I want or express whatever opinions I have!"  But this girl was much more reserved and merely said to the old man, "It has a line through it.  It's crossed out."  She was trying to tell him that she's against things like hatred and Nazis and all they stood for, but those words fell on deaf and ignorant ears.

Instead, he continued to shout at her.  Her mother sat there shocked, also just saying that it's crossed out, and I'm sure that after this surprising moment passed and they had a moment to collect their thoughts, there were things they wished they had said, but in the moment, they were too stunned to speak.  As was I, sitting next to this young impressionable girl wondering how she is able to stand the shouting from this man.  And the man's wife, who I thought would just shush him and lead him out the door, instead turned to the young girl and called her a disgrace and disgusting.  A 16 year old, she called her disgusting!!!!!  My mouth just dropped open and I stared with bewilderment. 

Then right before the man walked out of the shop, he turned to this girl and with the most evil of all tones of voice said, "You ***."  I wanted to punch this man!  How did he think that his love for this country was above shouting profanities at a young girl just expressing herself?  I was sick to my stomach, I wanted to follow him out the door and tell him how inappropriate he was.  I wanted the manager of the store, who saw the whole thing, to yell at him to stop speaking to this girl this way and force him out of the place, never to be allowed back.  But instead, we all just watched him walk out the door and stare this girl down the whole time, even as he walked past the windows and into the parking lot. 

Finally, the young man working the counter said, "I'm sorry about that," but it just didn't seem like enough.  The girl just said, "It's crossed out, I don't understand."

I have no moral to this story.  I walk away without any clearer understanding of the generation of men who fought in wars for our country.  I just know that even if she was wearing an "I HATE THE WAR" banner across her tee-shirt, it doesn't give anyone the right to attack her and her beliefs, much in the same way it's not appropriate for someone to go up to a man of his age and ask him if he "stupidly fought in World War II and contributed to the death of millions of people."  The reason we live in this country is because it allows us to be individuals and have our own beliefs.  Even if this man thought the girl was mocking this country and all those that fought to end Communism, he was completely out of line and should never have said what he said or even begun to speak to a complete stranger in that manner, particularly a young girl.