Story 12: How A Slow Driver Nearly Caused My Heart To Stop

            
             Long Island, the name, sounds so tranquil, but don’t be fooled, because road rage can happen anywhere. In this case, it was mostly my fault. As usual, I was driving back from one of my Hebrew School gigs at night during the summer of 94’, and was in a bit of a rush.  I drove onto the north bound ramp of the Meadowbrook Parkway a bit too quickly.  

The driver ahead of me seemed to be driving very slow, so I flicked my brights at him several times to signal my displeasure, and to encourage him to drive faster. When he didn’t speed up, I attempted to pass him on the left as we got onto the highway.

The driver of the other car was obviously angry because as I went to drive past him on the left, he moved his car from the middle lane to the left to block me. Upset, I attempted to pass him on the right. So what did he do? He pulled his car to the right to block me again. It was at this point that I seethed with anger and revenge scenarios raced through my brain. What would you have done in that situation?

     I Imagined ramming him in the back, or perhaps side-swiping him causing him to fishtail. Or maybe throw bombs at his car as I got closer just like Mad Max might have done in the Australian outback.  I don’t know where I was going to get some bombs, but I still wanted to retaliate against him, but I thought to myself, “Is this really worth dying over?” I decided that it wasn’t, and after a few seconds I slowed my car down and let him drive away unharmed. He may have won the battle, but I ended winning the war with myself. In the long run, that was more important to me, because you can win a battle, and still lose your life.

 Life Lesson Twelve: When we get angry a very primitive part of our brain takes over and rational thought often goes out the window. So, if you find yourself getting angry, take a few moments to gather yourself maybe count to ten or take a few relaxing breaths, and after that when you look at the situation it may have different meaning, or you may be in a better frame of mind to handle it.  Also remember that “Emotions are neither good nor bad, but it’s what we do with them that matters.” Try to make a healthier choice when you can, your family will thank you, and so might your car.