Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The Queen of Road Rage

Catholic Mom has a post about teens and driving, and some of the dangers they face on the road. (Don't miss the comments box with a great link for anyone who has a teen driver or--like me--will have one soon!)

She also mentions what driving can lead to for anyone:
I found my travels this weekend were a definite challenge to my virtue of patience and constituted a near occasion of sin! Prayer was a necessity.


I was only half-joking when I commented that I wonder if the priest would laugh when I confess to Road Rage.

I don't carry a gun in my car and chase down some other driver who cut me off. I don't change my destination so I can tailgate them for miles, and I absolutely don't roll down my window at the next traffic light so I can give them the "one-finger salute." But I do yell at other drivers from the privacy of my own driver's seat. And I do that often.

I come by this practice honestly: my dad does this too, and always has. He's quite even-tempered until you get him behind the wheel. When I was middle-school age, he had to take me into New York City, during the morning rush hour, so I could be treated for a vision problem. The drive into the city was road rage the whole way.

Do you see where I'm going with this? I grew up listening to my dad loudly unload his frustrations about other drivers. Now my kids are growing up listening to me as I do this.

It's not charitable, and it's not a good example to set for my kids. This is definitely something I need to work on a lot harder.

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