General Discussion

Recently, after a conflict with a young man I know had settled, I said something to him to express my empathy for the difficulty he had experienced, like ‘I know you’ve been under pressure’ or “it was a hard day” or similar. He snapped back at me, highly irritated, with “I’m not apologizing!!”

It was sad and maddening at the same time. I was a woman trying to smooth over hurt feelings, and instead of accepting the small peace offering, he just got angry that I dared to talk to him as human-to-human.

Rene probably thought she was connecting as a human “I’m not mad at you” but the ICE man perceived it as an affront to his authority, dominance, control.