Grandpa

My mother's father was a preacher, a woodworker, a gardener, an animal lover, a genuinely all around good guy.  He lived in Michigan so I didn't get to see him that often.  My grandpa had a saying that my mother would repeat quite often and its a good one so I wanted to pass it along.

There's so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us that it hardly behooves any of us to speak ill of the rest of us.

I was driving in traffic the other day and a car pulled out in front of another car.  There truly wasn't enough time for them to pull out but it wasn't wreck worthy.  There was plenty of stopping time, but the car that was already in the road laid on his horn, gave the middle finger salute and floored it to get around the person and berate them some more.

My first thought was, yes that person shouldn't have pulled out then, but then I remembered something.  I had tried to pull out in that very same spot recently and it is completely blind.  You can't see what's coming around the corner, so probably the person was just hoping for the best and took a chance.

The thing is the driver that blew his horn, flipped off and yelled at the offender has now created a bigger problem.  They have elevated their blood pressure and will now drive more aggressively.  They have upset the offender who was probably already nervous about pulling out, and people are now thinking negatively rather than positively.  Whereas had the person just slowed down a little and then passed when safe it would have been a non issue.

I absolutely love it when someone freaks out and speeds past you only to meet up with you at the next stop light.  We all want to get where we are going.  We all have stuff going on.  If everyone would just calm down and drive not only defensively but also intentionally and not selfishly we would all get there faster because there wouldn't be as many wrecks to deal with.  Oh and GET OFF YOUR STUPID PHONE!!!

My grandpa's saying works in so many different ways.  Pretty much any situation of drama that you are met with, it applies.  Just remember mercy and grace.  You like it when it is given to you, therefore why are you not so generous with it toward other people.

Go out....Be kind.