Assholes

One thing I've learned from living abroad is that there are assholes everywhere. There are assholes of every color, every ethnicity and every religion. There are assholes who drive through red lights. There are assholes who cut people in lines. There are assholes who declare wars based on fake WMD evidence. There are assholes who cheat on their wives. There are asshole expats who act like they're imperialists. There are assholes who show up to town hall meetings and write letters to editors and complain about things they have no idea what they're talking about. There are assholes who yell at children. There are even children who we call brats but are really assholes. There are teachers who are assholes and there are cops who are assholes. There are doctors who are assholes and there a religious leaders who are assholes. The point is, there are a ton of assholes in this world. I rarely write negative blog posts but I just can't help myself today as I just had a great first hand experience with assholes from around the world:

At my gym there is a flat screen TV in the weight room. Today I was the ONLY PERSON working out in the weight room and was psyched because "Red Dawn", one of my favorite movies, was on TV. I started to think about a blog post about "Red Dawn" when a Korean guy came into the weight room. The guy started to work out right next to me. In fact, he was so close to me I visibly craned my neck around him a few times to watch the movie between sets. I mean, it could not have been more obvious that I was watching the television...which makes the Korean guy a total asshole for changing the channel AND NOT WATCHING. Yes, he changed the channel to a soccer match (one that had been played days earlier) and didn't even pay attention to it. What I should have done was say, "Dude, I'm watching Red Dawn and Chelsea wins this game 3-1." However, being a non confrontational person (that's my synonym for "wuss") I shook my head and focused back on working out.

After about fifteen minutes the Korean guy left the weight room while almost simultaneously some meathead Eastern European guy entered. I immediately got up, took the remote and turned the channel back to "Red Dawn"...which was now over and rolling credits. I shook my head again and started to think about this "Asshole" blog as I channel surfed. I found another station that peaked my interest and then sat back down on a work-out machine. Not a minute passed before the Eastern European guy approached the TV and changed the channel. The dude saw me change the channel!! Again, I was non confrontation (yes, a wuss) and just shook my head and started to make fun of this guy in my head since he had exponentially more hair on his triceps then on his scalp. This Eastern European guy, who had clearly used a crap load of steroids at some point in his life, then proceeded to NOT WATCH THE TV. I'm sorry for the profanity but that Korean guy and Eastern Europe guy are clearly assholes. Which proves my point -- assholes are everywhere.