I don't recommend ever going out of your way to listen to the late George Carlin; he had a severe case of potty-mouth. However, I did hear him say something one time that was both humorous and accurate. He was talking about driving on highways, and he observed that when you're out there, everyone driving faster than you is a maniac, and everyone driving slower than you is an idiot.
I think most of us can probably relate to this observation. It's similar to the study I heard about once, where a survey found that something like 90% of us think we are above average drivers. Well, by definition, half of us have to be below average, but very few of us think we're in that bottom half!
Unfortunately, poor manners and hotheadedness on the roads seems to be the norm more often than not these days. I don't think I've ever given in to full blown road rage, but I will confess that it is an occasional weakness of mine to immediately have all sorts of bad feelings towards other drivers who I think aren't driving the way they should. I spend several hours driving every day for work, traveling between appointments, and so I get plenty of opportunities to experience all types of drivers.
Today, coming home from church, I had just such an opportunity; I was driving 50 miles an hour down a country road, with no one behind me for a long distance. A car pulled right out in front of me from a neighborhood entrance, causing me to slow way down for the rest of the stretch until we came to the next stop sign. Of course, I had the annoyed feeling that I needed to get right on this other car's tail and let them know just how rude it was of them to not wait until I was past to pull out, and to make sure they knew just how peeved I was.
Maybe it was because I was coming home from church. But I immediately had the impression that I needed to think about that driver differently. In fact, from where I was, I couldn't even see the driver at all - it was very sunny, I was driving a minivan while they were in a small car, and they were fairly short. So I couldn't see if it was male or female, old or young. I instantly got an imaginary picture in my mind of the other driver. It was a kind young woman, just like the meek and humble young women of our ward. Perhaps she donated blood regularly at the Red Cross, or helped at the food bank. Maybe she was distraught about a sick mother or sibling, or on her way to visit her grandparents on the Sabbath, and just didn't see me coming. Maybe she did see me in her rear view mirror after pulling out and felt really bad about what was really a trifling action of little importance. Maybe she was an investigator, or a friend of one of the young women in our ward, who was in the process of discovering the gospel.
OK, so it was all in my imagination, and I really actually had no idea who the other driver was or what he or she was like. But my heart instantly softened. I eased back on the gas and made sure I stayed a good distance back. What was I in such a hurry for, anyway? It wasn't going to hurt me if I had to wait one extra minute before getting home to take my tie off.
I was grateful for the reminders I received at that moment, and thought that maybe the Lord actually wanted that driver to pull out in front of me, to teach me a little lesson about patience and kindness and forgiveness -- and love.
"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools."
~ Ecclesiastes 7: 8-9
