Benefit of the doubt...

I was driving through a crazy narrow parking lot – also known as the nearest post office – when a little black car shot out from one of the spots. "Hey now..." popped into my head. Fortunately, I was inching along like a grandma, so no harm was done. I stopped just in time from hitting him right in the passenger-side doors.

Photo Credit: tampabay.com

As I was absorbing the situation – my foot still on the brake – his car was suddenly in drive. He angled the car sharp and sped forward, almost side-swiping me.

Jerk, right?

Maybe. But probably not.

Sure, he wasn't doing the right thing at the right time (or obeying any rules of the road or safety), but...was it intentional? Could it be that he's just one of many people in this world having a rough go of things? Could he have a screaming child in the backseat? Just lost a loved one? Muddling through a worse-than-usual bad day? Maybe it's all of the above.

via Pinterest

While I wish he had been more careful, the moral of this little story isn't about the other guy. It's that it's easiest to go through life assuming that things are a personal affront. I mean, if our egos are in the driver's seat (and they usually are), everything feels like it's being done to us and not simply happening around us. But seriously. We all have a lot going on, a lot expected from us and then a little more heaped on top of that, which makes us pretty prone to operating without thinking and to making mistakes. Not to or at someone, necessarily. But in general. So let's calm down and give one another the benefit of the doubt. We all need it sometimes.