Skip to main content

A little Advice



...to the now-driving neighbor girl. Here's a little advice--learn to exercise courtesy and grace, especially when interacting with your neighbors.

I know that my big bank of white pines intrudes on the roadway and that I have a big-ass stone mailbox that is difficult to see around when I back out of my driveway, but neither of these obstacles means that you should come over the hill with no regard for me and my big-ass Pacifica. Until I can get the trees trimmed and until I can ditch this car for something less cumbersome, it falls to you to offer courtesy. You have the right of way, but you won't be late for school if you stop to let me out in front of you on mornings when I don't see you coming--on mornings when I don't see you barreling over the hilltop heading straight for the curve with no intention to stop for anyone or anything that might have the misfortune of crossing your careless path.

On these mornings, it also falls to you to offer me grace. I'm sure it's frustrating to have to accommodate me and my car, and I'm sure when I make you break your stride and actually apply the brake, you might be angry. But if you can extend grace (take a breath and let it go for being nothing but a momentary inconvenience), then you will have accomplished one of the more lofty of human achievements. You will have made a connection with a fellow human in a way that puts us above the rest of creation. Choose to be better and more accommodating, and choose to rise above your basic human condition.

This is advice I feel qualified to offer because I have to work at exericising these same principles. It is in my basic nature to plow through intersections and TAKE my right of way, but it is of a higher human ability that I choose to make way for the rest of the driving population.

You thought you were just operating a motor vehicle, but when you drive, you're opening yourself up to a new world of opportunities and possibilities for growth and development. They didn't teach you that at the AAA--they were remiss.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Our neighborhood has had many wild driving kids through the years. Sad, though, now...all of those kids are grown and gone. Oh well...life goes on, and now we'll have to watch for the "senior" drivers!
9:11 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Birthday To...

Pope Leo IX (the Pope) JCF Bach (German composer) Jane Russell (of Gentlemen Prefer Blonds fame) Daniel Carter Beard (founder of the Boy Scouts of America) Jean-Paul Sartre (French philosopher) Maureen Stapleton (Academy Award winning actress) Mariette Hartley (who?) Prince William of Wales (the prince) but most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 45 years ago today, I was born in Alabama in a small town on the banks of the Tennessee River. Yesterday, someone asked me if my family has any birthday traditions. The answer is no. My family never cared very much, but I do remember a few birthday highlights. I was given a birthday party in the back yard when I was ten years old. Two years later, my sister got married on my birthday, so I was just a bit overlooked, although I did get a stuffed animal--it was a white Yorkshire terrier with an AM radio in its stomach. When I turned 20, a different sister took me to an outdoor performance of Dvorak's New World Sympho...
16 comments
Read more

Everybody Needs A Little Crème Brûlée

I went out to dinner with some friends the other evening and ordered crème brûlée for dessert. It was lovely—crispy sugar crust and creamy custard underneath. I'm a bit of crème brûlée fan and order it more often than I order any other restaurant dessert, which is not to say I always order dessert—only now and then. On my way home, I remembered I had a crème brûlée kit at home with ramekins, a torch, and a basic recipe. I love the torch. So, now I have made my favorite dessert at home, and I recommend that everyone have crème brûlée. It makes the world better. I used the recipe on the box, which was simple and basic. My only suggestion for improvement is to use less sugar for the caramelized crust. It was so thick, it was like chipping away at glass. An ice pick would have come in handy, or a diamond. Other recipes suggest 1/4 cup to be divided among six ramekins, making just over 1 tablespoon per serving. Crème Brûlée serves 4 1 cup heavy cream 2 extra large egg yolks (I used 3 re...
14 comments
Read more

Right Brain Dominant

I am reading A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future , by Daniel H. Pink. I wouldn't have chosen this book had I been book hunting because I lean toward fiction—it was a gift from someone who, like me, is right-brain dominate. I haven't gotten very far, just far enough to learn that in Hippocrates' day, the left side of the brain was considered the true source of thought, the thing that separated us from the animals and made us human. It was the source of reason and logic. The right side was considered a useless left over, a parasite. Now we know that both sides of our brains are equally important and equally involved in our daily thoughts and functions. But some of us do seem to be governed by one side more strongly than the other. Me, sometimes I think the left side of my brain has completely atrophied, that the right side governs everything. But I am learning that I don't give that other side enough credit, that logical mathy side. As I read on ab...
12 comments
Read more