Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Thirty Days of Thankful - Day 21

Day 21 - Today I 'm thankful for a stop light incident.

As I approached the intersection today at a notoriously looooong traffic light, the light was yellow and turned red as I came to a stop to wait for the next green (which I knew I could expect after about four minutes of waiting...) As soon as I stopped I couldn't help but notice the guy in the car behind me waving his arms sort of wildly with a "Gooooooooo!!!!" look in his eye. I instantly regretted my decision to stop at the light instead of punching the gas and gunning through, and I felt a little sheepish for having caused the guy behind me to have to stop. I didn't want to make eye contact because I just knew he was going to fly into an ugly tantrum of road rage. But as I stealthily observed him in my rear view mirror I was surprised to see him rolling his eyes, shrugging his shoulders and actually grinning from ear to ear as he shook his head in disbelief that I had stopped. He basically shrugged it off with a smile and I could practically hear him chalking it up to a gutless driver (me) and his own lousy timing and luck. I was amazed. I'd expected a much, much more colorful tirade and maybe a dirty look or expressive finger gesture. But nope. Not an ounce of rage. I pictured myself in a reversal of roles and knew darn well that I wouldn't have been so c'est la vie about the same scenario.

I'm thankful for the patient man who didn't explode all over me with road rage. I'm especially thankful for having had the experience of seeing someone handle an unfortunate situation with a big smile and apparently a pretty dang patient and positive attitude. Little life lessons are always something to be grateful for.

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