"An open letter to the high-schoolers in the park"

#PokemonGO: "I know this will get buried in the posts upon posts that gets submitted here. I don't even know why I am doing this, but I just felt like sharing / venting.To the kids in the park... Hi. I was at the park, in The Netherlands. I was at the park for about an hour or so, finally getting some desperately needed pokéballs because I suck at catching pokémon. I was there for an hour between grocery shopping and picking up my two children from school. I was there, on my bike, just making small rounds trying to battle a gym for the very first time.I had fun. I was out there, connecting with kids from all kinds of ages. I had the pleasure of meeting a girl of about 17 years old, who graciously offered to put a lower level pokémon in the gym she was battling, JUST so I could have my first experience in owning one.I had the pleasure of seeing that gym being taken over, and going back to see a group of very nice guys, about 12 years old, addressing me with our formal speech of the word "you" (Thx for making me feel old guys!) and just having a nice chitchat. Asking me about my pokémon, about what team I was in. Lovely guys.And then I moved to the other side of the park, where you were. A group of about 8 guys, around 15 years old. You had placed two lures which was attracting... well, pretty much the entire park, in your direction.Upon stopping to spin the stops, you decided to shout profanity and more to everyone stopping."Piss off!" "Fuck off!" "These are our lures!" "Better give me money for this!" "Hey, I see you around the corner, you're still standing in our lures, piss off!"After listening to this for about 5 minutes, I said (and trust me, I get it, I've been young, I heard myself and thought; wtf are you doing) "You know, you could just... weird this... try to be nice?"The looks said enough. You continued and when I carried on to my next poké stop you felt the need to yell after me "YEAH THAT'S RIGHT, PISS OFF".Now... for me, this experience has certainly put a negative spin on my experience. I can't even imagine what it must be like for the 11 year olds walking around being overly excited about this game and then meeting a group like yourself.I am 28 years old and have two children. I have been stuck in the house since I was 19. I have anxiety and barely leave my house. That hour in the park has mentally drained me so much, that I can not do anything else for the rest of the day. That hour in the park was a HUGE deal for someone like me. And you put negativity on that. Now I probably won't go out there alone anymore.I hope you're on reddit. I hope you read the amazing stories people post and I hope you learn from all the positive things that are happening.Not because I'm old and a partypooper. But because I am human and just want my goddamn pokéballs without being sworn at.Sincerely, The partypooper.Edit:Ok so... I never expect anything to actually be read, let alone gilded or commented on etc...So THANK YOU, thank you for all the kind messages and encouragements.Unfortunately I am not innocent either and may or may not have yelled "dickheads" when they yelled behind me as I left. I mean, again, I'm human. Woops?I have honestly had the best time so far with this game, the fact that I for a brief moment today owned the three gyms in the park and was walking outside, talking to people, has been a huge achievement for me. Progress comes with small steps.To those saying "man up" or "shrug it off"... Severe anxiety can sometimes mess up that process a little, no matter the circumstances. Now, while I am fine and just sitting here safely behind my pc eating "poffertjes", I have well gone past it. But I know people who would truly be devastated and for whom it could definitely ruin a potential great thing for them. Getting out of the house is a huge deal for me and others alike and you know... it's ok not to be able to shrug it off. It's perfectly fine, not to be ok.Edit2: Awh man... I am truly speechless with these comments and messages. Thank you for sharing your own stories, thank you for encouraging and helping others.p.s. I swear us Valors aren't all that bad!Edit3:For some reason people seem to be under the impression that I am male, and buff as fuck to take on 8, 15 year olds. Sorry to disappoint you people. I am a 5'9 woman in a very tall Dutch world. Those 15 year olds are 6'3 here and can most definitely take my ass. They wouldn't, because it's mostly just bark, not bite over here... But still." via /r/pokemongo http://ift.tt/29wwTOU