Thursday, February 18, 2010

Humility is, well, humbling. Everyone has such a high self-opinion and that's generally ok. There's nothing wrong with having a high self-opinion if you're honest with it. If you actually hold yourself to a standard, then living up to that standard could be considered a good thing.

So, this week's life lesson...

Early morning, just beginning the commute. Stopped at a red light, which promptly changes. Traffic starts to move, except the next car up. They sit. They sit more, but with a slight idling roll-back. The only reasonable thing to do is move to the next lane and zip by the sitting car, all the while giving them a shrug of the shoulders and the look that clearly says, "Ugh". It was all going according to plan until the police lights in the intersection became visible. Oh yeah, then the paramedic screaming through the intersection. Brakes were applied immediately, just in time to be next to the object of scorn just a few seconds earlier. Once the paramedic had passed, the driver of the other car gave that exact same "Ugh" look, but instead of the confused shrug of disbelief, they give a highly mocking hand clap with nothing but smugness written all over it.

And it was totally deserved. The rest of the drive to work was a little different than usual. People were allowed to pass. Speed was not the primary concern. Teeth were not gnashed. But for that day at least, a lesson was learned.

Being wrong is such a pain.

2 comments:

Responder PSE said...

I served as a volunteer firefighter for nearly six years. While a member of my local department, I was involved in a call whereby an ambulance had "t-boned" another automobile while responding to a motor vehicle accident. As it turned out, much as you described, a driver who was so impatient that when the light turned green to cross a four lane highway to make a left turn, drove around three other vehicles that were waiting for the approaching ambulance with its police lights flashing & siren blaring and remained stationary. Unfortunately, this driver did not stop in time as you did. The ambulance plowed into the driver's side of the car and the driver was killed instantly. The passenger was serious injured. Now another ambulance had to be dispatched for the original accident and the driver of the ambulance was seriously affected mentally by the death of this impatient driver. You were lucky that your experience turned out differently. Thank you very much for sharing your story.

Michael Netherton
owner of Responder Public Safety Equipment

Saucy said...

Thanks for sharing this. It really makes me rethink my CONSTANT impatience on the road. Is it me, or do sirens seem more difficult to hear nowadays because of the radio, wind, etc.? I know it's not my hearing because I seem to hear everything else!