Merge right with kindness

Our work crew witnessed some disconcerting scenes lately during the commute where traffic quickly comes together by the bridge near the hospital. After seeing one ill-mannered incident that looked like it could lead to an altercation one of my guys said, “In situations like these, I just try to focus on good intentions for the troubled people involved,” as he motioned with some blessing gestures. 

Then, another worker clicked on Wikipedia and spoke aloud: “Kindness is a behavior marked by ethical characteristics, a pleasant disposition, and concern for others. It is known as a virtue, and recognized as a value in many cultures and religions.”

Our anchor man observed with intensity: Some people are just having an awful day and everybody is allowed that. However, some poor folks are experiencing a series of really bad days; think about some of your own worst days. And getting behind the wheel of a vehicle may be the one thing that temporarily gives some people a powerful sense of control and freedom, while many other aspects of their life is in shambles.

Which drives me back to the blessing gestures: When motorists merge, it would bring better understanding if more were to reflect on what their most highly revered spiritual figure would do to create a better convergence at our future community bridge.

With this harmonic jazz in mind; as they’ve done well to lessen dangerous conditions for other large mammals, perhaps the Idaho Transportation Department could develop a contest for aspiring graphic artists to come up with an icon to be persuasively displayed with new “Merge right with kindness” road signs.

And the high-hope for this to work is that some impolite motorists will upgrade their behavior from nasty bird-flipping, over to peace signs with two nice fingers.