Tonight I wanted to hurt younger people I met

I feel like I need to write about this for the sake of my own mental well-being because something happened tonight that just really, put me in a frame of mind that could probably have resulted in me going to jail if I lived in the West and I wasn't as level-headed as I am, or at least think that I am.

Tonight I decided that instead of drinking all day long that I was going to take my dog for a long walk on the beach. Not on the sand because that isn't allowed in certain areas but just on the walkway that exists alongside the water here in Danang.

While I was doing this things were fine, but at one point a group of younger people kind of screwed up not just my night, but my mindset in general and it is bothering me now.

I was about 1km into my walk, which is a really long way for my dog Nadi, when I was approached by a group of younger girls and guys that in total there were probably 8 of them. I am not fearful of groups of people here because that is not the sort of society that we live in but what followed sounded to me, and appeared to me to be a sort of modern-day-social-media "flex" attempt on the part of the guy who approached me.

He said "Is it ok if I pet the dog?"

And me, being a normal person and someone who really likes dogs I said "of course it's ok"

Then what do you think happened?

In a normal society with normal ways of behaving he and whoever else in his crew wanted to pet my dog would have pet my dog until I told them to stop because Nadi doesn't really like being pet that much. But that is not what this guy had in mind.

He said "can i pet the dog" and when he approached me and her he reached out to put his hand on my head.

I'm not a small person and I have a lot of anger inside of me about a lot of things so I caught his arm before he touched me and held it very tight. I said "either pet the dog or fuck off" and then he went to go and touch Nadi and Nadi bit him.

She's a hero for that and I don't know how she knew to do this, dogs are so amazing for their apparent ability to read our minds. He didn't try to hurt Nadi because well, that would have been a story that all of you would have read in the news about a a "crazy enraged expat who murdered 8 people on the beach of Da Nang" and that would have been me. Covered in blood and turning myself into the police.

It probably wouldn't have worked out that way. I am not Jason Bourne. I probably would have just gotten beaten up.

The point of all of this is that I was just walking my dog and minding my own business and trying to be nice to strangers and then someone thought it would be funny to make me the butt of a joke and I just don't understand why he would try to do that. I don't know this person, I have never seen him before and Nadi (my dog) certainly didn't do anything to bring on this attention other than being small and cute. So why us?

Is it just in the nature of younger people now to try to make a scene out of everything? The only thing that was missing was someone recording it to put online. In the end when we were walking away and I was clearly not happy with this group the guy who initially tried to "pet" me like a dog said "enjoy your walk" but at that point I just was kind of happy that I wasn't carrying a knife.

I don't like people like this. People that act like this make everyone more on edge and more violent. The rest of the night I was short-tempered and ready to have a go at anyone who stepped to me even in the slightest way. Prior to meeting this random jackass on the beach I was in high spirits and happy to be taking my dog for a walk that she really enjoys.

It's crazy how one person can completely screw up your night and for that guy.... I hope you can change before someone actually does stab you.

It honestly ruined my night and I just don't understand why people behave this way. I wasn't that way when I was in my 20's. Is this just the way that people are now because if that is the case then I just want to avoid all younger people from this point forward.