It's Not Nice to be Rude
The other day, a woman flipped me off as I was pulling out of our driveway.
You have to understand that our house is situated on a very odd corner. People coming from the left can't see the driveway until they are practically in front of it. So it's always a bit of a gamble every time anyone makes that left turn. If someone is coming around the corner too fast, they just might hit the one coming out of the driveway.
Well, it hasn't happened yet, but it almost did on Saturday, with this woman. She came barrelling around that corner, definitely too fast, driving one of those I'm-a-car-but-I-wish-I-was-a-house sort of cars, a big brown Buick or Cadillac or something. I had just put my foot on the accelerator after looking both ways, and had begun to move out of the driveway into the street. If I had stopped, she would still have had to swerve around the front end of my car, probably. Then she has the nerve to scream and yell and make obscene gestures because SHE almost hit ME.
I think that when you get to be a certain age, you really shouldn't be relying on juvenile physical reactions to get your emotional point across. In other words, she really looked too old to be flipping people off. She also looked like she might have been a hippie once, or maybe she still is, and that annoyed me because hippies were supposed to be all about peace and love and happy thoughts. She definitely didn't look like she was thinking happy thoughts that morning, nor was she "spreading the love."
My brother was with me and wanted me to stop and ask if she was alright, because it looked like she might be bursting a blood vessel, but I said forget it. I was too irritated and incredulous to care. (My attitude may not have been entirely Christ-like right then, I admit.)
The thing that troubled me most about the whole encounter as I kept thinking about it was that it wasn't even 10 in the morning at that point. So this woman was furiously angry before the day had even properly begun. And not just any day--a Saturday! Of course, maybe she was mad that she had to be up before 10 on a Saturday. We won't ever know.
All this to say, life is too short, people. It really is. The Bible says that our days are but a breath, and that's true. Time goes so fast, so don't waste it flipping people off and yelling at them. Even if they are the ones at fault (not that I am saying I was at fault, because I WASN'T).
That's my moral and spiritual lesson for the day, which I am taking the time to share, in spite of the fact that I have a deadline looming on an article I'm writing for the local paper. See how much I care about you guys, putting you before my career? Feel special.
You have to understand that our house is situated on a very odd corner. People coming from the left can't see the driveway until they are practically in front of it. So it's always a bit of a gamble every time anyone makes that left turn. If someone is coming around the corner too fast, they just might hit the one coming out of the driveway.
Well, it hasn't happened yet, but it almost did on Saturday, with this woman. She came barrelling around that corner, definitely too fast, driving one of those I'm-a-car-but-I-wish-I-was-a-house sort of cars, a big brown Buick or Cadillac or something. I had just put my foot on the accelerator after looking both ways, and had begun to move out of the driveway into the street. If I had stopped, she would still have had to swerve around the front end of my car, probably. Then she has the nerve to scream and yell and make obscene gestures because SHE almost hit ME.
I think that when you get to be a certain age, you really shouldn't be relying on juvenile physical reactions to get your emotional point across. In other words, she really looked too old to be flipping people off. She also looked like she might have been a hippie once, or maybe she still is, and that annoyed me because hippies were supposed to be all about peace and love and happy thoughts. She definitely didn't look like she was thinking happy thoughts that morning, nor was she "spreading the love."
My brother was with me and wanted me to stop and ask if she was alright, because it looked like she might be bursting a blood vessel, but I said forget it. I was too irritated and incredulous to care. (My attitude may not have been entirely Christ-like right then, I admit.)
The thing that troubled me most about the whole encounter as I kept thinking about it was that it wasn't even 10 in the morning at that point. So this woman was furiously angry before the day had even properly begun. And not just any day--a Saturday! Of course, maybe she was mad that she had to be up before 10 on a Saturday. We won't ever know.
All this to say, life is too short, people. It really is. The Bible says that our days are but a breath, and that's true. Time goes so fast, so don't waste it flipping people off and yelling at them. Even if they are the ones at fault (not that I am saying I was at fault, because I WASN'T).
That's my moral and spiritual lesson for the day, which I am taking the time to share, in spite of the fact that I have a deadline looming on an article I'm writing for the local paper. See how much I care about you guys, putting you before my career? Feel special.
posted by grackyfrogg @ 9:51 AM
6 Comments:
At 6:17 PM ,
Anonymous said...
hahaha girl that had me laughing. road rage is seriously one of the funniest things in the world. if you think about it...the nicest people in person are usually the ones that are the "unexpected road ragers". for example i was in a car with someone who is one of the most lovely natured people that i know but oh no as soon as someone cut her off the abuse and fingers started flying. it makes me laugh truely. i mean maybe it's the only way they have to vent all their agression that they build up because they are allways so nice to people? That's my theory anyway. I had a guy pull in front of me once to the point that I couldn't actually move because he was blocking me and had stopped and proceeded to wind his window down and just yell stuff that i couldn't hear because my windows were up...my brother who was with me at the time just turned and looked at me and well we both started laughing..what is that really going to acheive? His face was all red and we had no idea what his problem was.
The other thing that is worth a giggle is the ol "merge like a zip" scenario. I mean really...how hard is that to do? One from each lane and so on and so on...but oh no if you manage to put your foot on the accelerator and beat the person that is supposed to go in front of you, and get 1 car ahead you really will get there that much faster.
Love your work gracie, keep writing tash xxx
At 7:28 PM ,
Anonymous said...
I'm just wondering what this blog would have looked like if Grace had been in that hippy lady's shoes. Hmmm. Stupid LA drivers....? AAhhh please dont kill me!!!
Andi
At 7:39 PM ,
Anonymous said...
(i meant please dont kill me Grace!!!!!)
Andi
At 7:43 PM ,
grackyfrogg said...
I do not flip people off. I do admit that I occasionally raise my voice at them, however--in prayer, of course, as a good Christian should.
And I would just like to say that New Zealand has its share of bad drivers, believe me. Especially those guys that drive the courier vans. And don't even get me started on the Auckland motorway scene...gah!!
At 10:59 PM ,
BeautiPhil said...
w00t! go the auckland motorway and merging like a pair of pants!..er zip! ;-)
what, Grace? You don't like the 1.5 wide lanes, no steet signs, not really recognition of multipul lanes (in the same direction) and the sea of humanity that goes everywhere on downtown Queen Street?
it's the only reason I can confidently drive a manual transmission car baby!
so... what does a once-upon-a-time hippie look like?
At 7:24 PM ,
Anonymous said...
Someone honked at me on the freeway today. that was good. then they madly signaled for me to get out of their way as they were getting off the offramp. I couldn't figure out why they were doing that so I just waved.
Sue
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