Apparently, he got back to his car in a car park somewhere, and some random guy swung in to the space next to him in an old banger, then repeatedly flung open the driver side door, in an attempt to deliberately dent Clive's car, just because it was nicer.
"Does this sort of thing really happen?" I asked incredulously.
Of course it does. Spiteful people out there sometimes have no idea what they're doing - if my life's terrible, they think, why not make everyone else's life terrible too?
"Where's the logic in that?" My eyes were wide with disbelief. Presumably, you see someone with a nicer car than yours and you rail against the organised-universe by kicking the door in? Maybe in a twisted attempt at classical Communism, you believe that kind of revolution to be the easiest way to create a fairer world - the have-nots rise up to pull the haves down to their level and then we're all in the same, miserable boat together? It's dreadful, yes - but at least it's everybody?
Clive was alright about it. The cars were parked far enough apart for there to be no damage done (although apparently the guy also tried the sole of his boot). We did talk about how to respond to such selfish, irrational vandalism though. I was still mystified.
"I think I'd just want to know why," I said. "I'd ask why he did that - what was the point? What was really the problem? What did he hope to achieve?" Clive had a more direct approach. He didn't believe I'd get an answer to that question, no matter how fiery I was while asking it.
I wanted to know why Mr Skyline felt the need to be King of the Boy Racers too, the other night. I thought I knew - bravado, getting a kick out of trying something skillful and visually intimidating - showing off to the girls. There were reasons after all, I thought.
But this was a bit more of a stumper - a man in his thirties committing a mindless act of criminal damage in a parking space, on his own, in broad daylight? For what?
There is absolutely no way to make the world a better place by making it worse for others. It might feel like it, it might look like it, it might seem as though the world deserves it, but it always fails and it always backfires: whether it's an isolationist approach to climate change, detaining people on your borders, dumping your white goods in the forest, or just leaving your leftovers for someone else to tidy up.
I'm naive enough to believe that, just as I'm naive enough not to know that there are incredibly selfish people out there. But kindness, self-sacrifice, and ultimately love, seem to me like the only ways to redress the balance of unfairness.
And I guess I'm still mystified that that isn't blindingly obvious to all of us.
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