Secrets of Success for Teens: Quick Judgments

I was pulling out of a parking space the other day when all of a sudden a young man about 17 years old walked up to the front of my car and started swearing at me. He called me something that I've seldom been called in my life - and I've spent my life with hundreds of teens. Who was he and why was he so mad at me?

Apparently as I was backing out, he was behind me. Now I'm known for being a great driver. Ask anyone. When I got in the car, there was no one standing in the parking lot at all especially near me. When I backed out very slowly, there were no cars visible in either of my rear mirrors or as I looked to the right. No visible people either. So apparently this person was in my blind spot..that small space between the mirrors and how far you can see when you turn around.

Ok..so he was there. I'll take responsiblity for my part of this because these things do happen. But what about his responsibility. I was going no more than 5 miles an hour. Shouldn't he have been looking where he was going too? And even if he was lost in thought, was the proper response to swear at me and look at me like I had murdered everyone he cared about?

I think the big thing here is that this person was all about him. How dare I drive near him when he was there? Kind of a selfish view of the world. We're all in this together and each need to take responsibility for our actions and at least be understanding on some level about things that happen. His response was way out of proportion to the situation. I was tempted to open my window and have a conversation but I felt that someone who would react so quickly wouldn't be open to reason at that moment.

So what's our place in all this? Everyone who drives will at one time or another have someone in their blind spot. Everyone. One day it will be us in someone's blind spot and if we want to have a world with less stress and more understanding, we have to remember that we too have been in that situation.

So wherever you are young man walking in RI, hope you remember me when you too are in the same situation. And remember that I didn't confront you or swear at you. The world is not about any one of us. We're all in this thing together.