This isn't just a rant, I'm trying to figure something out here, so, bear with me while I explain what happened.

Today, I was walking across Grafton Bridge, Auckland, New Zealand, in broad daylight, with people in front and behind me on the footpath. There are two guys, they look Maori, on the other side of the bridge, watching me. One is yelling at me over the traffic. I don't know them - I've never seen either of them before. They are dressed pretty shittily, they look like bums. Dirty clothes, short, and one guy had half his teeth missing and a crooked smile.

When I put my earphones back in and pretend to ignore the guy yelling at me, he signals to his friend, who runs across the road and stands in front of me. He's saying something and holding a plastic bag full of what certainly ain't oregano or thyme. I ignore him, and try to move past him. He has a look in his eyes which is familiar, that I've seen before. The look of somebody on P, methamphetamine, what the Aussies call "ice". The fucking stufff is sweeping the streets world-wide, NZ as much as anywhere else.

The guy keeps walking behind me, and grabs my collar, and tries to pull me into a wall. Of course, the other people on the footpath don't do jack shit - cowards. This guy isn't trying to sell me anything, he's agressive. He's either trying to get me to give him some money, or he wants a fight. I, of course, ain't giving him either. So, I shoulder him out of the way, take a few steps while staring him down, and then turn, and walk away calmly, with my earphones in my ears.

I don't know what the guy wanted, but, he sure as hell wasn't looking to make new friends or tell me about how Jezuz died for my sins.

The thing that really pisses me off, is that this isn't the first time this has happened. Bout 8 months ago, in the same area, A guy walks up to me, toptally from nowhere, and pushes me to the ground, standing over me with fists raised. I got away without getting in a fight, but, he was sure as hell looking for one. I'm pretty sure this guy was on P too. He was acting like it, and his eyes looked the same.




So, my question: What the hell is going on in these people's minds when they do shit like this? I mean... I'm not exactly the kind of guy who has "victim" stamped on my fourhead. I'm big, broad-shouldered, beard, hair tied back, and at the most recent of these two occaisions, I was wearing an army jacket. I didn't exactly look like easy pickings. And, on both occaisions I described above, all the guys involved were shorter than me, significantly so, and no way in hell were they stronger than me. What makes these people tick, why did they single me out? Because I looked like I would be a good fight, or what?

Does anyone have any similar experiences or ideas that could shed light on stupid shit like this, and how these idiots think?