One time when I was in high school I was in this nearby suburban neighborhood taking a stroll on the sidewalk. There was a section of the path where on one side there was a drop that fell to a stream below and was surrounded by a few trees on either side of the water. The other side of the sidewalk was the road. To prevent passersby from falling ten feet into the stream, a metal fence with a railing was placed there.
I wanted to test my parkour skills, so I stood up on the metal railing and began balancing. I did different small movements with walking back and forth, bending my knees, and standing in place. I was feeling pretty good about myself, and I didn't care to notice that a car was approaching down the road. As the driver rolled by at 30 mph or so, she rolled down her window and yelled at the top of her lungs, "GET DOWN!"
The lady didn't say anything else and kept on going, but that promptly terrified me for a second and I nearly fell off of the railing. I was shaken up because I could have lost my balance which would possibly make me fall ten feet or so into a shallow stream.
I kept on thinking how foolish it was of the driver to do that because I was in a position where I had to be steady and calm and focused. She thought it was a good idea to shout suddenly in a moving vehicle less than five feet from me while I'm elevated in a potentially risky situation.
If you want to scare someone on purpose you would do the things she did. The driver unknowingly threatened my safety by distracting me and spooking me. She was ignorant of the depth of the situation, and I guess she was bothered to see some kid doing parkour in her neighborhood and wanted to express her distaste for my activity.
It was narrow-minded and hazardous of her because she only thought of herself and not the other person who is trying really hard to not concentrate and fall.
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This is an example of an ignorant person, a spectator in this context, being a danger to someone around her. She did not assess the situation correctly and had no empathy for what I was doing nor any care for how her actions could negatively affect me and my safety. I don't say 'empathy' in that she should feel bad, but she should have understanding of what I am doing. If someone's on a roof, you don't sneak up on them and shout close by in an angry tone.
I feel bad for people who have to suffer from that woman's mindset and from others who are so ignorant as to be neglectful of a child's safety because they are so focused on asserting some authoritative angry high ground (no pun intended).
I could go into how ignorant people trash parkour practitioners because they don't understand the sport, but the story has been shared, the point has been articulated, and it's time for me to go to bed.
