ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 17, 1995 TAG: 9512150043
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: The back pew
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
The signs of Christmas are all around us. Wreaths, lights, smiles - motorists cutting each other off in traffic and shooting each other ``the bird.''
It's weird. The holidays come, people get caught up in the spirit of thanks and giving, then some of them start turning on each other.
I'll admit, the tension gets to me sometimes, too. There is so much to do this time of year - not enough time, too many people, not enough money, too much commercialism, not enough room on the highway for the two of us.
One day last week, for instance, I somehow managed to tick-off two other motorists without intending to.
While I was on the way in to work, a woman whipped out of a side street in front of me, causing me to have to pop on my brakes rather harder than I would have liked. Once in the road, she immediately slowed down and started primping her hair. When I lifted my hand and arm up off the steering wheel to check how slow she was going, she jerked her arm up into the air in a gesture of contempt at me.
I presume she thought I was trying to give her some kind of signal of my irritation. She tried to zoom off away from me - though her old clunker took some coaxing to get up to 55 - proceeding to violate the speed limit through greater downtown Troutville.
Normally, I'll have to admit, that kind of behavior drives me nuts. Inconsiderate - if not just plain bad - driving gets my goat. But that morning I was on time, very cool, and I really wasn't all that upset with this woman.
Whatever mood she was in as she started her drive to work was made worse by my being behind her, however.
After another grueling eight hours in front of the typewriter, I headed home that evening with the warm glow that comes from completing a good day's work.
Traffic on Campbell Avenue was busy as usual for its 15-minute rush ``hour.'' As I was pulling up to a stop light where I would turn off the street, a woman in the car on my right stuck her arm to the window, middle finger upraised in an angry gesture as I passed.
This time, I'm really baffled. I have no idea what I did to incur the wrath of this fellow homeward-bound worker. I can only shake my head as I make the turn, pointing toward home.
For the next couple of miles I can't help going over the first 200 yards of driving I did trying to figure out how I could have been so irritating in such a short space.
Eventually, I realized it may be that I really didn't have much to do with the irritation those two other drivers felt. All it takes is the pressure of the season for some people to be pushed over an edge they are perched on already.
Maybe they had been stuck the day before in one of those frozen lines of cars trying to escape - or enter - one of the area malls or shopping centers. Maybe they'd gotten into the department store, only to discover that the perfect gift they'd been waiting for payday to pick up was now sold out. Maybe they already are dreading another holiday with argumentive old Uncle John.
I hope I didn't inadvertently do something that made those other drivers have worse days than they began. I don't think I did.
What I know is that I won't let their reactions sour my holiday mood. The spirit of this season demands the best of us, whether we are celebrating the solstice, or Kwanzaa, or Hanukkah or, especially, Christmas. Most of us are capable of making choices about how we will react to the pressures and stresses that inevitably accompany a time of such high expectations.
I'll choose to be merry. Hope you can, too.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB