Hello, I'm still around---I met a real man on Sunday

Hey ya'll. Haven't really felt like writing recently. I have a lot of stuff running around in my mind, Most of it is in the background but it still has an effect on the everyday goings ons. Anyways, I'd been wanting to write about what happened last Sunday morning when I got off of work, so here goes:

Well, I left work and get to the Delancey st. F train to begin my journey home. Well this particular day the uptown tracks were being worked on so I had to ride the downtown to Jay st in Brooklyn to ride the A up to the F or D. D is what gets me home. Well it took the downtown F a while to get to Delancey. It finally came and I got up from the bench to get on. I'm standing behind this guy as the train comes to a stop. I kind of shift forward a bit in anticipation of the doors opening and the guy turns and aggressively says, "Yo! Wait!"
I'm like, "What you talking about?"
"You bumped me! Don't be pushin'!"
"I didn't touch you, man."
"Yeah you did! Just chill the fuck out! For real, you better chill!"
"Whatever yo, I ain't touch you! You chill!"
So, this whole convo is going on as we are getting on the train. We going back and forth, adrenaline rising. He tell me to sit and I'm like I'll sit when I fuckin' feel like it. Now, I don't want to fight this dude but my natural personality is to reciprocate the energy I'm given. Plus I'm a native New York cat and we really just don't back down to naked aggression. But, I realize this is not the right course of action right now. He crosses to the side of the train I'm on and gets in the ready to fight position with his right hand half-cocked for a blow. So, I take the high road and say, "Look I ain't tryin' to fight you, dude." He's still agitated but he backs off, still talking shit for a minute or so. And just so you don't get it twisted I'm not afraid to fight , it's just not always the necessary thing to do all the time. SO, I sit down. I'm no longer making eye contact with this dude. And I'm smiling to myself 'cause I'm wondering if I didn't stop myself and deflate the situation, would I have been calm enough to apply what I've been learning in Aikido or would I have stabbed him in the neck with the knife I had my hand on the whole time (Note: Don't fuck with me. :-). Also, I realized that part of my big ass coat probably did touch him and I just didn't feel it but he still overreacted. Anyways, a few minutes goes by and I see him coming back over to my side of the train. He seems a bit calmer but after our recent exchange my hand slips back into my pocket. He sits in the seat in front of me. He looks me dead in the eye and says, "Yo man, I apologize. Really man, I'm sorry." Then he actually apologizes to everyone on the train car 'cause he had been rather loud. He turns back to me and proceeds to tell me that he's just having a bad morning, the train was mad late, etc. I'm like, "It's cool man. I understand. Everybody has bad days." Etc. He offers to buy me breakfast to make up for the minor altercation. At first I wasn't really going to go but we were getting off at the same stop and I could tell he genuinely felt bad about popping off like that, so I went up with him and we sat at Dunkin' Donuts, ate and talked. He was a good guy just having a bad morning. He told me to just hold on to that patience I had. He said, "I know it can't be easy dealing with ignorant niggas but just keep that patience." He actually bought one of my books. Naturally I signed it for him. I wrote, "Here's to avoiding negative energy. Glad I met you. Stay cool!" He got a laugh out of that. I hope he got something out of my book, if nothing else a few laughs.

The remarkable thing about this experience to me is that he actually apologized. Most dudes after poppin' off like that publicly wouldn't have the balls to apologize. I would, but I'm me. Most dudes who grew up in the streets, which I don't know his whole life story but I could tell he wasn't a stranger to them, never reach that level of maturity. I mean, from talking to him he's not in the streets now. He's holding down 2 jobs. I figure there's a real reason for that and that's what was probably stressing him so much. But yeah, it takes a real man to apologize, especially in those circumstances. His name was Justin.

So that was the beginning of the week, actually the end of a work week for me. Goes to show, you never know. I need to work on my initial reactions a bit, channel some Kwai Chang Kane energy. But I checked my shit in time and it worked out for the best and I probably have a new fan of my work, which is always good.