Courtesy and cars

Yes, it is a bit of an oxymoron. Especially today at peak hour as a light rain misted the roads. Melbourne drivers go mad at the slightest rain.

I could entertain us both with harrowing tales of speeding, tail gating, failure to give way to merging cars, running red lights in order to clog up a major intersection, but that isn't the text of today's lesson.

We focus easily and enjoyably on others' errors, which give us a warm glow of victimhood and superiority. The glow increases if we pause for a moment as the stray thought crosses our mind: "Gosh, I hope I don't do that!".

We like to believe we don't behave so badly, certainly not intentionally. Few of us take the next - necessary - step of genuinely evaluating our own actions and making sure we don't behave so badly.

Do you really give way every time? Or do you decide you deserve to go first because some yahoo cut you off a fee blocks back, and you're running late and...

Courtesy requires that we treat other people's needs as just as valid as ours are. So all too often, courtesy and cars IS an oxymoron.

This is post 69 of 100 posts in 100 days.
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