Through the rain ….
As I drove home recently, the skies opened. Poured rain. Piles and piles of heavy rain. Hoped against hope that the rural road leading to my neighborhood wasn’t flooded. (I didn’t bring my water wings.)
A car unexpectedly turned from a driveway onto the road right in front of me. Suddenly, the turning car stopped. Just. Like. That. My car slipped and slid, trying to stop also. Heart pounding, I hoped there was enough traction so I would not slide off the road into the ditch. Oy!
Able to stop. Phew! Suddenly, the driver in front opened his car door and waved me around him on this two-lane rural road. What the heck was going on with him in this pouring rain? I was furious and my heart still pounding from my skid. Already composing a script in my head, replete with judgments, about this foolish driver and his untoward actions on this dangerous wet road. Have some courtesy for heavens sakes!
I pulled around him, slowly, and SAW the reason for his stop. A beautiful box turtle was crossing the road. The driver had stopped to avoid hitting it. No raincoat, he got out of the car in this cascade of wetness and moved the turtle to the other side of the road. And me? I’m suddenly opening my car window, sticking my head out in the pouring rain, and yelling “thank you! thank you!” multiple times.
Yes, like the unknown gent with whom I was so angry just a moment ago, I’m a turtle lover. In fact, I’m such an ardent turtle rescue momma that I’ve narrowly avoided being hit by a car in my mania to save a turtle. Nothing like going into a reactive mode when a turtle is at risk. Reactive? Here you go. In my craze of “gotta save that turtle,” I literally slam on the brakes, jump out of my vehicle, (usually forgetting to look both ways for other cars) and barrel toward moving the turtle to the side of the road. Um, the little issue of saving the turtle somehow seems to subsume my personal safety concerns. (What does this tell you about my priorities?)
And the very uncomplimentary script I’d hastily written in my head about this driver? Um, well…left me cogitating the reactive scripts I compose in my mind on the spur of the moment when I have no context for someone’s actions. Just diving, head first, into that deep hole of “they’re wrong.” Hmmm…perhaps I can remember the word “turtle” as a cue when I find myself tumbling into judgment-land without a larger picture.
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First posted June, 2022
“TURTLE”! This is now going to be my mantra when I start to judge someone while driving.
However, please don’t try to save a four legged on a four lane highway. Your own safety comes first.
I know we all have knee jerk reactions to try and avoid hitting anything while driving, and each scenario plays out differently.
Kudo’s to that guy, but what if...