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A semi-truck was stopped about 100 yards short of the stop sign. I was leaving town last week on my way to the gym.
The stop sign guarded the intersection from a side street to the main two-lane highway going through town.
The truck was idling on the side street and I crept up behind him.
I couldn't quite tell what he was doing. I slowed to a stop and waited. The truck jerked to a start for a moment and rolled to within 30 yards or so of the intersection and stopped again.
The driver had no blinker on for a turn right or left. I didn't see any traffic on the highway that he could be waiting for. For all I knew he was checking a GPS, a map or talking on a phone.
So, seeing no signs of him doing anything, I pulled around him, slipped into the space between him and the stop sign, stopped momentarily and turned left onto the highway.
The driver of the semi-truck took exception.
As I took my left I heard him lean on his horn. Next I saw him floor it and make a fast left after me.
I guess, angry over my apparent disrespect in cutting in front of him, he began laying on the horn again as he gained ground on me. He roared up directly behind me. I was doing 60.
When I looked in my rearview mirror all I could see was his front grill menacing and threatening, the horn blaring. He was right on me sending me a message I suppose.
Ahead I saw a slower moving pickup truck and thought this a perfect opportunity to get him off my back. If I passed the pickup then it would be between me and the semi and the semi would have to back off.
So I passed.
But the semi followed suit. He passed the pick up at the exact same time I did; so close and in harmony with my movement you'd swear we were the same long vehicle.
He laid on the horn again, grill filling my mirror all the way.
I knew about four minutes ahead was a stop sign at another main highway. What he would do when I slowed and stopped there I had no idea.
So many thoughts went through my mind. Would I get a grill to the back of the head if he back ended me? Did he carry a gun? I had absolutely no idea what I was dealing with.
I thought about turning off onto a country road where he could not follow. But that posed the same problem as the approaching stop sign. What would he do to me if I stopped in the road even to turn?
For the next two minutes-seemed a lot longer-he bore down on me and my mind was kinetically alive with all of the worst possible scenarios.
I was one minute from the stop sign. I stayed at 60. Still, he was on me.
And then the anger chemicals must have eased in his brain, the tectonic plates of common sense shifting into place. Because suddenly he slowed to a safe distance.
I pulled up to the stop sign still wary of what he might do. He slowed and stopped behind me. I had to wait a beat for traffic to clear. I went straight. And in my rearview mirror I saw him flip his blinker and turn left.
And here's what I thought: If he had injured me, even killed me. If he had confronted me angrily in any way. If something catastrophic had happened...it would have all been over a misunderstanding.
We as human beings do this, you know. We see a set of facts on the face of things. We see them in 2D not 3D. We don't take the time to explore motives and underlying forces, the entire vista of circumstances.
We don't take the time to empathize, to see the same set of facts from another's point of view. We make quick judgements based on things we think we know.
I meant no disrespect to the truck driver whatsoever. It was an honest misunderstanding. But do you think if he could have confronted me it would have been for a sensible, heartfelt, meaningful conversation? Would he have asked me my point of view and listened to my side of the story?
Nope, I'm quite certain that I would have gotten, at minimum, something upside my head because of what he just knew he knew.
Yeah, misunderstandings. They're a killer I'll tell you.
Only patience untangles them.
Because of the holiday I will not be sending out an Advisory next week. Happy Thanksgiving everyone and I'll see you in two weeks!
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