I was pensively driving in town this week, moseying towards the Library in order to return a video I had borrowed.three weeks before. I arrived at the corner of Broadway and Sixth with my left turn signal on, and after checking to the left and seeing no car, I started the turn completely forgetting that I actually had a stop sign. It was not a policeman who noticed, but a gentleman wearing a camo baseball cap coming full speed in a big noisy dirty truck from my right. He was also intent on turning left, but my coming forward unexpectedly sort of ‘cramped’ his smooth left turn.
This gentleman certainly did not forget his manners. As he turned left, he made sure to address himself to me but sadly, due to the distance between our two vehicles which also both had closed windows, I could not hear what he had to say. Having raised a deaf son, I am a little familiar with lip-reading, and I could see the lips of that gentleman forming a distinct ‘F’, followed by something that looked like ‘O’, or maybe even a ‘U’. The breakdown in communication was certainly entirely my fault according to the gentleman in question as he was sure to articulate, and even used strong facial expressions to make sure I properly understood his communication to me. I am sure that if he could, he would have kindly further helped me understand by using even a simple rudimentary form of sign language, but his hands were safely on the steering wheel. Though I did not hear the words, I could certainly sense that he was somewhat bothered, angry, and even slightly upset. Well, I learned a good lesson that day. I sure need to pay more attention to my driving in town; I certainly would not want to cause people anger, which has a reputation of having negative effects on the heart. On the other, hand, maybe I eased this man and helped him to somewhat vent some of his day’s frustration on a total stranger, so he didn’t have to do it on his family that evening. In whatever way, after having exercised his right to free speech, I hope he feels all the better for it.
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