Road Rage

Last Sunday morning as I turned off the road that runs in front of my condo, I suddenly heard a horn blaring at me. Looking in my rear view mirror I saw a man in a big black truck bearing down on me. I didn't know what he was blasting his horn about, he was not that close to me until he purposely got up on my bumper. He was gesturing and mouthing words the way people do when they have road rage. I hadn't seen him coming before I turned. He must have come over the hill pretty fast. Anyway he was really angry at me and he shot me a bird. A bird!!! I haven't been shot a bird in....in.....I can't remember how long. I was shocked. outraged.

Hmm...what to do? I blared my horn back at him. I pressed my breaks and almost came to a complete stop. He didn't hit me. I slowed down to about 25 mph and kept that speed to the next intersection. If he wanted to act like an idiot because he thought I'd slowed him down then I might as well give him something real to complain about. He stayed right on my bumper as we creeped along to the next intersection which is only about a half mile down the road. I kept expecting him to pass me but he didn't.

When we got to the intersection he pulled up beside me and started rolling down his window. I rolled down mine. I had no idea what to expect. Was he going to cuss me out? He kind of laughed nervously in that "I'm not picking a fight but I'm ready for one" kind of way and said "hey that was a red light back there."

I didn't know what I was going to say but I looked him straight in the eye and said firmly in a loud, calm, crystal clear voice........

"I......Apologize"

He rolled his window up and drove on.

What???? Did I just say "I apologize"? Why and for what? I don't know what I expected to hear coming out of my mouth but that wasn't it. But after it was out it seemed like it had been the perfect thing to say.

And then I drove on to church.

Epilogue:
Now when I said "I apologize" it had nothing to do with conscious thought. It was born of pure reflex from an attitude that I take with me to church on Sunday mornings, which is to treat everyone with calm and respect and to behave so that everyone keeps their dignity. It came from years of conditioning almost since birth. I wonder what I would have said to him if I hadn't been going to church. I hope the same thing, but I can't be sure. I don't go to church every day, only on Sundays. But I think that incident motivated me to at least try to behave every day as if I was.