Patience is a Virtue

This message was originally posted maria. Due technical difficulties I republished this.

The other day, I was driving to work, and there was a lady with her daughter driving behind me.  Little by little, she inched her way closer to me so that, at some points, I’m sure she put less than a car’s length between us.  As someone who tries to follow the law and drives at-the-most 5 miles over the speed limit and keeps a fair distance between me and the car ahead, I was amazed how this lady was so impatient behind the wheel.  Her impatience was apparent as I looked back at her through my rear-view mirror and saw her fling her arms up into the air and mouth “Come On!”

 

Now, the first thought that goes through my mind when someone tailgates me is that I should drive slower and go the speed limit.  Yet, I’ve heard (and I know from experience) that this only makes the tailgater worse.  The second thought that goes through my mind is to pick up my speed and drive a little faster, hoping that it will satisfy the need-for-speed tailgater.  Yet, this seems to only reinforce the idea of tailgating if the tailgater always gets his or her own way.  Thus, whenever I’m in a situation where someone is tailgating me, I try to keep driving at the speed I’ve been going and not decrease or increase my speed.

 

A few years ago when I was in high school, I was fortunate enough to win a used car at my Junior Post-Prom event.  This elevation of popularity and the fact that I was only 17 made me feel invincible on the road.  I knew tailgating was wrong, but that did not stop me from driving fast and many times, end up tailgating people.  A year went by until this realization of the English proverb “Patience is a Virtue” finally set in.  On my way home from school with my younger brother and sister in my car, I was part of a 5-car pileup on a busy highway.  Although I did not start the crash and no one was seriously hurt, my part in the accident most likely could have been prevented by keeping more distance between me and the car in front (not tailgating) and by not going 10 miles over the speed limit (not speeding).

 

The whole concept of driving fast and/or tailgating someone is so dangerous and flat out ridiculous.  Our nation’s busy lifestyle has made us rude and conceited drivers.  If you are driving and find the need to increase your speed and/or tailgate because you’re going to be late, it’s really your own fault that you did not leave soon enough and you should not put other lives at risk by doing so.  Further more, you have no idea if the person in front of you is someone you know or if that person happens to be driving to the same place you are going.  Can you imagine how awkward and foolish you’d feel if that happened to you?

 

Did I mention that the lady tailgating me on my way to work was one of my neighbors?

 

I feel that everyone could learn how to be more patient behind the wheel.