Road rage and the jerks who yield to it
“Consider the source and ignore the ignorance,” my mother counseled when
dealing with jerks. But some jerks are mighty hard to ignore,
especially when it is a jerk with road rage.
You know road rage, that crazy thing that happens in California: “Cut in
front of me will you! Take that!” and the driver behind whips out a gun
or rams his car into the offender. After all, if one person is rude,
however unintended, the other person gets permission to be a hundred
times more rude.
Road rage was a crazy California news item until late this past spring
when our son nearly hit another car as he left a gas station.
Fortunately the other driver reacted in time, yanked his steering wheel
hard right and ended up on the grass.
Startled and concerned, my son parked his car, got out to apologize and
make sure everyone was okay. They were fine. However, the other driver
yanked open his car door, his fist balled up ready to sure that someone
left the near accident hurt. As he stormed over to my son, my son heard
the guy’s wife scream “this is the second time in a month this has
happened.” One big burly dude slugged my son in the jaw and then in
chest. The dude was pulling back for another wallop when a passing
police car saw what was happening and stopped to intervene. The
policeman ended up snapping handcuffs on the still raging man and taking
him away in the squad car.
A friend of my son’s saw him and also stopped. They left to go to their
church and pray for the guy. My son said his jaw only hurt when he
laughed or tried to eat something. He seemed none the worse for wear,
but a week later, after a couple other traumatic incidents, he decided
he preferred the peace and quiet of southern Arkansas over the rush of
the big city.
But even El Dorado does not totally escape road rage.
Last month, a gentle member of the AARP went to the drive-in teller to
deposit her check. At the end of the lane was a car with a man who
appeared to be completing his paper work before pulling up to the
window. She drove around his car and got in line.
The man came rushing out of his car and to her car window. He leaned
over her car and began pounding on the windshield, “You drove in front
of me! That was my place in line,” he screamed. Apologizing profusely,
she said she would back up so he could go ahead of her.
He didn’t care what she would do for him now. She had cut in front of
him and he was mad.
In tears and shaking, the elderly lady stared horrified as he attacked
her car physically while verbally abusing her. Eventually he kicked his
way back to his own car. He had expressed is feelings and along the way
earned himself the title, “Jerk of the Day.”
A little bit of the ignorant jerk dwells in the best of us. Some of us
manifest it more than others. In the book “Don’t Let Jerks Get the Best
of You” the author urges readers to extend grace and understanding to
the jerks they meet in life, as they wish extended to themselves when
they manage to become “Jerk of the Day”.
Good advice, jerks especially
those with road rage, need a piles of pardon and patience.