This morning on my morning walk, I stopped at a four-way stop and started across the street in the crosswalk. A car zoomed up, skidded to a momentary stop, and then raced through the intersection. The driver looked neither direction and didn't even notice me right ahead of her.
I was mad, and I thought of flipping her off. Then I remembered that (a) I'm not the kind of person who flips people off, (b) I don't believe in flipping people off, and (c) I can't ever remember exactly how to flip someone off. (I have to think about where my fingers go and how they are arranged.) So I just kind of raised my arms in a "Whaaaaaaa.......?" gesture and moved on.
I confess that I flipped someone off once in my life, more than 25 years ago. I was riding my bicycle on a one-way street, obeying all traffic rules, doing absolutely nothing wrong, and a car pulled up beside me and yelled, "Get off the $#*@()#!!! road!" It scared me to death and I almost fell off my bike. I was so mad that, after eventually arranging my fingers properly, I flipped off the driver. She was long gone by then, of course.
I've had mixed feelings about my actions ever since. Part of me was a teeny bit proud of myself for doing something so out of character and brave and scandalous. The other part of me was ashamed of myself. The ashamed of myself part won, and I haven't done any flipping off since.
But I confess I did feel like doing it this morning.
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