Negative Speculation.

I was travelling back to my home loaded down with shopping items. I checked my watch and realised that the school I had to walk by, was just about to close. This meant the mayhem that is the after school rush. If I picked up the pace, I reckoned there just might be a chance of avoiding the mayhem that is the after school rush.
As I neared the school, it became apparent that I was most likely going to be used as a convenient target to bump into. It had happened before, so I prepared myself. Prepared myself for the onslaught of screaming youngsters and the excitable, animated adults that had come to fetch them.
Now in Britain, American or Canadian 'football' is not exactly a sporting pastime. I chuckled to myself as I thought about the good old days when I used to play football and was very good at avoiding being tackled. (Heck, when a dude the size of a truck is heading towards you, it is a very good idea to avoid being tackled). Judging by what lay before me, a 'gridiron' uniform, complete with a helmut, may have been adequate protection. Well almost. Hmmm...Gary the 'gridiron gladiator'.
So, resided in the fact that getting past the school and onto the freedom of my home, was going to be a bit of an obstacle course, I bravely moved closer to the teeming mass of humanity. A little girl, about six years old, ploughed into me. "Watch where you're going!" yelled the man who was with her. I smiled and said to him, as I pointed further down the road: "Wish me luck." "What did you say? You got a problem?" he screamed at me. I repeated myself. All I was trying to do was see the funny side of what lay before me. He mumbled something and continued on his way.
I am a very sensitive person. This really shook me up. It had been a good day, sadly that one moment had caused me much anxiety. At times we can be guilty of assuming the worst. I had experienced an example of someone assuming the worst, when all I wanted was for him to realise the best. Perhaps he heard what he wanted to hear. If we choose to hear what we want to hear, we may not hear what is really spoken.
Negative speculation breeds a negative environment. Realistic, positive anticipation will make us, will make the world, a better place.