The “Wave”
Tooling down the freeway on my way home this afternoon I noticed a car in the left lane in front of me with it’s blinkers on, hoping to merge into my lane, and getting the short shrift from the other drivers in front of me. My one rule while driving is ‘use your blinkers’. I have no sympathy for someone who’s weaving in and out of traffic and not using turn their turn indicators.
Anyway….this person was hoping to merge in and wasn’t having much luck. As they neared me I slowed down to allow a gap into which they could merge. They did so, and waved “thanks”. That, I think, is a wonderful thing to do when someone cuts you a break, doesn’t act like a jerk, and actually shares the road. That “wave” that perhaps only one in ten people do is akin to when truckers flash their brake lights at you because you flashed your headlights to let them know that they can merge into traffic in front of you. It’s a reward for the just and an impetus to keep on doing the right thing.
I personally don’t think enough people do the “wave”. Perhaps it’s a sense of entitlement, that some people believe they actually own the road, and that somehow forbids them from thanking a helpful stranger. Perhaps today’s society has just become cold and crass, and waving a quick “thanks” doesn’t even enter into the equation. Or perhaps it’s a combination of ignorance and self-centeredness that certain people just don’t believe in a friendly wave when it’s due.
Whatever the cause, a quick wave certainly makes that long daily drive home a far more tolerable experience.
The “wave”. Do it today. Make someone feel good.
I guess we are all selfish and ignorant in our own way but public driving habits seem to typify how our societal manners have devolved. I remember when people of all ages in my neighborhood would smile and wave as they drove past you. In the subdivision I live in, only the older generation still waves. The young ones give you a mean stare or occasionally try to run you off the road because they drive down the middle and will not yield. With our addiction to technology, we have become a nation full of cliques. We endlessly talk to our friends and spouses over the most trivial things but are suspicious, even hostile to strangers. “If you are not in my contacts, you do not exist” has become a mantra in Western society.
Too true. I think I slip into that mode every once in a while, but I’ve been doing my best to break out of that.
I love to “share” the road and get grumpy when people act like total aso’s, and hoepfully the more of us do “share it”, the more of them will learn how to behave…