A Piece of Your Mind

Road rage. Everyone experiences it in one way or another; internally, the anger you feel when traffic is just not moving fast enough, and externally when someone leashes out on you. I'm not perfect, I can be a furious driver. But I have become much more peaceful about my driving over the last few years. The average person spends years of their life sitting in traffic, sitting at a stoplight, yelling out their window at some stranger. Is that kind, or fair to scream profanities at someone that just like you, is trying to get to their destination?

Not too long ago, I was heading home from work and taking the more scenic route to see and appreciate some wide open spaces (hard to find in Orlando), and sing my favorite tunes. I rolled along to a four way stop at about the same time as another vehicle and motioned for them to go ahead. The couple flew past me flipping me the bird with hatred spread over their faces at me, for no reason what so ever. Know what I did? I cried. Why do people hate and despise people they don't know? They didn't know me, they didn't know how my day was. What if god forbid I was on my last straw of life and contemplating suicide? Moral of the story is: be kind to one another. Spread kindness and joy rather than hatred and despair. The world needs it.

More so than just this, taking this lesson into the real scheme of the world, Israel vs. Palestine. The Hamas sending rockets into Israel and them back into Palestine to protect their people killing INNOCENT people; families, women, children, destroying infrastructure. What makes someone hate another so much as to kill and destroy these lives? Could this have been prevented? How far back does hate exist? In one way or another "war" is saying its ok, we have to stop this through more hate and propaganda against one another. War is not ok, ever. No life is worth it.

Some say its the way of the world, just "the circle of life." However, I believe life is about love, joy, happiness, humble experiences. There is no room in this world for hate and rage although it seems like lately there is much more of this than anything else. My piece of advice to pass on if not to one person: pass on happiness. Wake up and see the sun shining with a smile upon your face, play some cheerful tunes as you sit in traffic going to work, wave and smile to that stressed out stranger beside you. It may just make their day. Think of your day as a gift rather than a curse, be thankful for your 8-5 office job, thankful for your errands to run and the fact that you can provide food in your fridge. If we all treat our days and our endless list of errands and to do's as blessings rather than curses we can spread this mindset and make the most simple and mundane tasks cheerful.

So next time you want to scream at someone for cutting you off, let them in. Is it really going to make a difference in the long run?

With peace,

    Kelsey.