We are going to be talking about some real low-lifes, and people with deplorable manners. If you want to excuse yourself from this blog post, that’s ok.

The subject matter is a vile couple. They would invite themselves to my family’s house and to other people’s events. If that wasn’t bad enough, you had to humor them, and then they would start to argue about petty little things. You had to wait for these people to get bored and move on to the next thing they invited themselves to. 

While at an event, they wouldn’t help with things like watching the kids. I remember one occasion, there was a family friend who was quite elderly, and she was having trouble getting up from a chair. They stood there, ambivalently watching me help the poor lady get up, and didn’t volunteer to help at all. One might assume that these people were cold-blooded killers based on these actions. Yet they were just white collar people, a part of polite society. 

In my life, I have befriended the dregs of society—escorts, armed robbers, and drug dealers. However, in that time, I have never met any two people who enjoyed being rude much as that couple. After having to handle them for some time, the hair on the back of my neck would stand up. Then, I would get cold shivers down my spine and pressure on my chest.

Trust your gut.

These people—there was nothing I could directly point to that was downright evil. But, you can be a very bad person and not be evil. They enjoyed punishing others, and to me that was a cardinal sin. It was more than just making a mistake or being a low life. The ego-tripping couple sought anyone who was somehow in the wrong. Then, in their minds, they would try to make said person pay for their mistake.

People shouldn’t be on an active hunt for justice: the harm that can cause far surpasses any amount of justice.

They would scan the room, half listen, and come to a conclusion: this is really dangerous.

They would want to walk around, breaking things up and not offering any alternative: this is downright destructive.

It isn’t just about jurisprudence.

What also needs to be taken into consideration is the overall context. Is this going to be a repeat thing? That sweet, kind girl who wanted to leave her husband probably isn’t a serial cheater. Maybe she just doesn’t want to be treated horribly; in that case, I wouldn’t look down on her. These things need to be handled with care. I know from previous experience that this couple I’m talking about would have punished this woman, a vulnerable immigrant, with no consideration for the awful situation she was in.

That couple imagined the world as a movie script, and framed people as heroes and villains. They would take a cursory look at the situation and filter it through genres: romantic, dramatic, or pornographic. In their tabloid minds, they could flip right past a humanitarian crisis; I find that very interesting. We should be very careful how we perceive a tragedy, so that we don’t make it worse.

Conclusion. 

I have known some really good people, who I will never be able to compare myself to. I have known some really bad people, who’s company I have enjoyed. But neither of these groups, I believe, could tolerate assholes like that couple.