Canada: It’s My Street and I’ll Laugh If I Want to

By Terris Schneider, SSH Correspondent

Sunday is my designated ladies day. A few friends and I go to meditate at Semperviva Yoga in the evening, and then watch an episode of Girls after. I look forward to my Girls Sunday (double entendre) every week. However, during my most recent Sunday, some guy decided he was going to try and shit all over my friend’s and my night with some good ol’ aggressive and creepy behaviour.

My friend Katy and I were walking back down my street after we went for a Starbucks run. Katy and I love to indulge in playfully narcissistic conversation and started to laugh about how we would both consider our personality types to be “mellow neurotic.” As we erupted with laughter, this guy stepped in our way. He had this look on his face, one as Katy described later as “one a psychopath would have.”

He didn’t say a single world, he didn’t have to – his body language spoke for itself. He was putting out this dominating vibe that was beyond intimidating. Katy and I were so scared as we walked by him, we felt as though we were about to get attacked or stabbed at any moment. Walking by him for those few seconds were some of the most terrifying of my life.

As we continued to walk, Katy and I sped up. We were unsure whether he was following us, but I had a safety plan in mind (which I found out later Katy had the exact same idea, too). The plan was as follows: if he was stalking us, we’d run into the first public place we could find, which was a JJ Bean across the street. I was too scared to look behind me right away, and then ended up sneaking a glance as we got to the streetlight. He hadn’t been following us, thank god, but we were frightened. We made it back to my apartment, safe and sound, but with our evening having been nearly ruined.

Well, the guy got what he wanted. He had the ability to silence two happy young women who were just having a good time by scaring them half to death with his aggression. Being a woman and having the terrible reflex of automatically taking responsibility for things, I thought about if we did anything wrong. Honestly, all we did was laugh. Maybe we were too loud which could be irritating to some, but really, does that warrant being threatened by another person? Short answer of a potentially even longer rant: Nope!

I wish I could tell off that creepy guy and let him know that he almost sabotaged our night, but we still carried on and went to meditation despite being afraid. We then had some great laughs while watching our favourite show, and Katy even walked home alone on the same street where he harassed us without me having to drive her home.

And know this: we will continue to laugh and annoy the hell out of whoever we walk by because it’s our street too.

Terris is a professional wordsmith (freelance writer) based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. You can read more of her work on her blog, or follow her on Twitter and Facebook.