Conscious Choice: Bumper to Bumper

December 2007 | From the Editor

Bumper to Bumper

By Ritzy Ryciak

I am a little bit nervous about admitting this, but here goes:

A few days ago, I gently rear-ended a very nice Lexus. It was one of our extra-special, pouring-down-rain days and I mistakenly thought that the line of cars I was in was slowly and steadily moving. Needless to say, the line abruptly stopped and — three, two, one — contact.

The bump was jarring and my adrenaline immediately kicked in as I followed the Lexus to the nearest place to pull over.

Now, I have scratched a few bumpers in my lifetime (and when I say scratch I really mean scratch). The last two times (please note, in the last 10 years —this isn’t a chronic problem), both cars were “luxury” cars and the drivers were very put-out and unkind. I was dreading the potential prissy, “you scratched my bumper, and you will pay!” attitude that I had encountered before.

Bumpers (or the disappearance of them on most new car models) are actually a huge pet peeve of mine. Where did all of the frickin’ bumpers go? And, if you are like me and you have bumped a few in your day, you know that not only are they nonexistent, but these new “bumpers” on most cars cost a LOT of money to repair. Like, a ridiculous and embarrassing amount of money. It bothers me, and it bothers me how wrapped up people get in having the perfect bumper.

But I digress. Point is, I got out of the car and the man immediately asked me (with genuine concern) if everyone in my car was okay (I had a huge bag of laundry in my front-seat and it looked like a passenger). We laughed at the laundry, looked at the bumper and he quickly said that he really didn’t see any damage. He did not demand my insurance information, but instead thanked me for pulling over and wished me a great rest of my day.

I got back in my car and felt teary-eyed. He could have been mean. He could have searched (with a fine-tooth comb) for damage. He could have grouchily told me that he didn’t see any damage. He did none of these things. Instead, he treated me (a stranger) with complete and utter kindness. I know, I know, it is not the biggest deal in the world, but his actions really affected me. They made me realize the profundity of the way we treat one another — friends, lovers and strangers. I felt a renewed sense of faith in humanity and it has stayed with me ever since.

I share this story because in addition to being the season of holiday cheer, gift giving and delicious spiked eggnog, December is usually a damn stressful month. It’s cold, people are crazy busy, over-stressed, overwhelmed and sometimes downright cranky. My goal this month is to move slowly enough to smile at the harried cashiers, give right-away to fellow stuck-in-traffic drivers, hopefully not “bump” anymore cars and actually truly celebrate this season with Cheer.
Safe driving and I wish you the happiest holiday season!

Ritzy
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