The other day I was driving our nine-year old to school, waiting to turn on to the main street near the school. A woman in a huge cadillac SUV was passing our street, and traffic was going very slowly. I looked at her so she would realize I was trying to get in to the lane, and she looked back at me while steadily pulling up and blocking my path. I gave her a strong glare with a sickly sweet smile on my face and pointed that I was trying to get in and what was her issue anyway. She smiled sweetly back at me and stayed right where she was blocking my path. I smile-glared back at her with great annoyance and held up my hands as if to say I’m giving up on you, hopeless stranger.

As I continued my smile-glare-hand routine, a small voice from the back asked, “Mommy, what are you doing?”

Now this was embarrassing. I kind of forgot myself for a moment, forgot that everything I do is watched by those who are learning from my actions and plan to imitate them one day (if not today). Did I want my daughter making sickly sweet faces at someone who didn’t allow her to do what she wanted, when she wanted?

Miss Oversized SUV seemed to want to park herself in my path rather than let me in. A little unfriendly, sure, but how do I want my daughter to react to these kinds of frustrating situations? Not with ugliness, fake smiles or anger. I want my daughter to rise to the occasion and say to herself:

There’s a reason this woman is not giving me what I want, and maybe it’s because I need to work on my patience, humility, and giving people the benefit of the doubt (She truly wanted to let me in, but her brakes were slow?).

Why does it feel so good to be self-righteous, and why is it so easy to think that people are nasty, rather than realizing we don’t know everything?

It takes some real strength of character not to react in a typical fashion when we’re ‘wronged’ on the road, and elsewhere in life.

But hey, someone’s watching. It may be our daughter, and it may be our Father. So let’s behave.