Think Before you Honk
The very person who needs to read this probably won’t take the time or care about safety and being empathetic toward others. But read it for yourself.
The other day, a man was going by an apartment at an assisted living facility because his relative had died during the night. He was driving a little bit over the speed limit, but this car behind him was insisting that he wasn’t driving fast enough and was in his way.
He rode the guy’s bumper, honked his horn incessantly, swerved around him at the entrance of the senior living facility, and flipped him off as he passed.
Unfortunately, drivers and people like this are obvious nuisances and frequently act like they’re the only person who matters. We never know what the person in front of us has gone through that day or that evening, and some people selfishly respond as if their world is more important than the person in front of them.
You never know when the person in front of you has had a relative die, was rushing to see somebody who’s deathly ill, or is compassionately responding to somebody who was in need of help.
There are several important lessons to learn from the scenario:
Don’t assume you’re the most important person in the world. Know that none of us is “all that” and deserving of being considered the king or the queen.
Take a minute just to imagine what that person might be going through or might be facing in a few minutes. None of us knows what anybody else is truly experiencing.
Consider just taking a minute to think about somebody else’s pain and loss before you become so irate and claim that you should be the focus of attention.
Put yourself in someone else’s shoes and feel for the other person. You may have a similar experience in the near future, while you will appreciate a person having a kind thought about what you’re facing.
Realize it’s easy to get irate and angry in traffic or when you’re in a hurry, but remember someday you may be in a situation where you will need some understanding and patience because you are in a tough experience or you’ve been confronted with one.
The person who curses another is sitting on unresolved anger. The person who incessantly beeps their horn is demonstrating a very selfish need for attention. The person who passive-aggressively swerves at the last minute and dips in front of the car that’s trying to make a turn is demanding and immature. The person who flipped you off is cruel and insensitive to ever want the person to suffer for eternity or be messed over in the moment.
Find some way to be less angry. Find some way to know that others are equally as important as you are. Find some way to be direct, respectful, and honest without immaturely making a passive-aggressive comment or action.
Know how cruel it is to wish eternal blame and accusation on everyone else, and refuse to be abusive in your thoughts and your language.
Remember, someday it may be your time to experience real loss, have a crisis or an emergency, or need someone who just cares.
