Words are meaningless, actions are whar counts. I've turned those situations around, where the ahole ends up buying me a drink. You did the intelligent thing, let the useless emotions go.

I would've just shot him so I could finish my beer in peace.

Re: violence or not, I had to choose
 

unless you work out you'll run out of steam within a minute of muscling with a kid. Then you have to make sure witnesses see him throw the 1st punch and then you have to keep the party rolling as that you're only defending yourself. Routine bar fighting techniques is a loser with kids imo. Somebody good could lay him out without anyone seeing him get hit him with a fist.

sometimes the mind can function as youth but the body can't.

I'm a terrible example. I've gotten worse in my old age, if anything. I'm 47 and I'll walk up to a bunch of *****bags drinking beer and pissing on trees and ask them where they live so I can go to their houses and piss on their front door. I get so furious at certain things that reason goes out the window.

I was raised in a state full of Scandinavians at a time when littering in front of the wrong person will cost you dental work. It's a major cultural divide sometimes in L.A.

Got off track there; sounds like you did real well, Sammy. You did not let him intimidate you or show fear, and acted in a legal, adult manner. Nothing to regret.

Best thing to have done is embarrass him by asking how much power did HIS Blown/Injected drag boat make??

Since he MUST have been an expert let him tell you why it is so. People like that quickly drown in their own stupidity by trying to rationalize/reason with their point of view, especially when many others are close by.

I've done this and it works.........make the dumb-@ss hang himself in front of a crowd on his own words. He'll be laughed out of the place

I'm happy not to be visiting you in Jail or sending checks to the "Free Sammy" legal defense fund. Good job for keeping your cool - and good job for picking friends that helped you keep calm.

Sammy,

Quite often, doing the right thing is the most difficult thing to do. For instance, I've got a perfect reply to a particular person's jackass-tic response in this thread, and it's killing me to not type it, but I refuse to. This thread is about you.

Ya done good, kid! :D

Randy

All voters for kicking the guys @ss will be (or have been) banned:D

There are still a few states AFAIK where dueling is allowed....

You showed great restraint and maturity Sammy. Way to go.

A mature move. Beating the dude up would have done neither of you any good.

Re: violence or not, I had to choose
 

You done good, Sammy!
:)

Your wife and kids thank you for doing the right thing. Just let it go, I know easier said than done but.................
Some people just deserve an a$$ whipping, and those people, in the end, get one. It doesn't have to be you who gives it.
I have a bad temper (mellowing with age) and I get mad quickly, I am lucky, I get over it quickly. My family keeps a short lead on me! :)

You certainly made the right choice. As someone else said, it's not always the easy choice. With our current laws you could have easily been charged with a hate crime, and even if you were vindicated you would still have a local reputation as a racist.

I have only been in one fight in my life, but found myself in your spot several times. What you have posted here, along with talking to someone (your pastor is a great choice) is a great way to get it out of your system. Keep telling yourself that it was the right choice, for both you and your family.

Thanks guys, your posts are helping. I woke up this morning thinking about it and what I might do if I ever come across this guy again but I'm not as fired up as I was before.

I'm going to stay away from that place for a few weeks until I get my head straight and can trust myself to do the right thing again just in case I run into him.

Of course if he or anyone else came after me I would have to defend myself but I'll do what it takes to avoid that within reason. I won't hide from bad situations but I'll try to prepare myself to handle them the right way.
One thing I was thinking about last night was, how would I act if my two children were watching? That was a hard one.

I'm going to talk to my pastor after the 9:30 service. He's really a great guy and mostly the reason we became members there.

Hey cracker a$$, ;) You did the right thing. He wasnt worth the trouble I think and your a bigger man. When we were younger maybe but as we get older we mellow out a bit more, at least I did. Get a heavy bag if you need to hit something...cost a lot less;)

One thing that hasn't been discussed here is you must have BIG balls to drag race a blown/injected BOAT, let alone have the knowledge to maintain it with 40% load.

You're da MAN!!

Sounds to me like that guy brought up something painful in you and you fought it with anger and rage. Totally normal, had that happen to me last week. A guy at work bullied me in a certain way and it brought up years of bad memories of dealing with my father. So ofcourse I turned homicidal for a few days, broke a few things, etc. But a few phone calls, a lot of contemplation, a little bit of writing, and a few days of cooling off and I doubt it will ever bother me again.

Its probably not so much _what_ the guy said as much as it was _how_ you heard it. Use this as an opporitunity to figure out what makes you angry, you'll probably feel a lot better when you do.