Got Entitlement?

Dear Pittsburgh Guy Driving a Lexus:

Where are you going in such a hurry?  My sister’s driving a station wagon, with a bumper sticker that reads “proud parent of an Eagle Scout.”  It should be obvious that my sister is a mother.  When you rode her tail for five miles and then vehemently flipped her off uncontrollably while speeding around her car, did you think, for one second, that she might have a child in the car?  Did you honestly have to prove your point in such an ugly manner?  And, by the way, what was your point? That you are important?  That you have to attend to a matter of great urgency or the world will come to an end?  That someone is waiting for you somewhere?  As an aside, my heart goes out to whoever might be on the receiving end of your daily companionship.

I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt when my sister told me this story.  I try to give that same benefit of the doubt when I see your kind all over the roads I travel.  Maybe you just were fired.  Maybe you were on your way to see a relative who is barely hanging on.  Maybe you just received some other type of soul-crushing news.

But the fact of the matter is that you’re probably just a rude, pompous, volatile little man. You know how I know?  Because here, on planet earth, people get bad news every day; and yet we refrain from exhibiting this type of belligerent behavior on (or off) the road.  But in your world, you somehow learned that you alone are entitled to the road. You alone are allowed to berate anyone who doesn’t measure up to your standards. You alone are the only one who matters.

But here, in my world, people learn how to deal with bad news with grace.  We may  go faster than we should on the highway, but we refrain from displaying this type of flagrant barbarianism.  We may experience fits of anger.  But it’s a mere second, not a continual screaming, hand gesturing, red-faced, blood-pressure rising tirade. That’s the difference between someone who lives with grace and someone like you.

So instead of violently tailing and verbally abusing a soccer mom who simply had the misfortune of being in front of you, maybe you should slow down and perhaps go on a journey of self-discovery.  Try to find this grace for yourself.   Although I’m trying to learn not to judge other people, you desperately seem to need it.

I’ll end by saying it is grace alone that allows me to feel compassion for you with your unmitigated selfishness and conceit.  It is that grace that allows me to hope you find peace.  Because, Mr. Lexus, what goes around, truly does come around.  And karma is going to be waiting for you, perhaps around that next bend.  Unless it’s caught up with you already.