Misunderstood at the Light

By my house, the morning traffic is very busy and if a driver misses the green left-turn signal, it will be another five minutes before the light turns green.   In the morning, five minutes seems like an eternity.  Since only a few cars are let through with each green light, a short 15-minute drive could be stretched into a 20 or 25 minute commute. 

My son was running late, again!  I had to drop him off at school and I only had 15 minutes to get him there.  The left-turn signal was already green, and backed up.  I decided to go straight, make a u-turn, and make a right-hand turn onto the highway to save time. I wasn’t the only one.  As I waited to take the right turn, there were three cars ahead me.  The lead car was hesitating to turn, so I decided to give a gentle honk of encouragement.  After a few minutes lapsed, I quickly honked again. 

To my surprise, the driver directly ahead of me jumped out of her vehicle.  With her arms flailing, she cussed me out.  “What is your #%-^*#!  problem?” she asked, “Quit honking at ME!" I was shocked, “I wasn’t honking at you,” I calmly explained.  She didn’t care!  She continued her rant and jumped back into her car.

Stunned, I looked over at my shocked son and said, “Lesson learned, don’t honk.” 

I picked up a few other lessons that morning at the light.  First, don’t assume.  The woman assumed she was being honked at and took personal offense to the honking.  There could have been a dozen other things that could have happened.  What if my son reached over and honked the horn?  What if my horn was broken?  What if I was digging around in my car and bumped my horn twice? What if I was honking at my friend in the lane next to me?  What if it was the person behind me honking?  What if I had a medical emergency?  One thing was for sure,  I wasn’t honking at her.  She asked me what my problem was but never stopped to listen to my answer.  

Second, don’t jump out of your car, in an intersection, and yell at someone (especially if you have personalized license plates).  Sounds funny, but it's true.  When you are offended, take the time to find out what  the person really intended.  You may be surprised to discover, it had nothing to do with you.

How many times in our own lives do we assume someone is “honking” at us when they are not, do we take the time to listen?   How many times do we let our own impatience send the wrong signals to others?