Friday, December 3, 2010

Punishing with Kindness

The Punisher™ made an appearance yesterday. Thanks to the wonders of a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, she was kind. I turned on South Dale Mabry. You Tampa folk know this is a hellish road with stop and go traffic, narrow lanes and tons of accidents. I see a mom mobile pas me. It's a SUV with all the bells and whistles. A FSU license tag and FSU stickers on the back window. I notice the driver is a woman in her late 30's. She is staring at her phone and texting as she drives down the road. I can see a toddler in the baby seat in the back. Instantly, The Punisher™ comes out. I get next to her at the next light. She is still messing with her phone. I beep my horn. She looks at me and I make the motion for her to roll her window down.  She rolls her window down. I out my hand over my heart and said I was not trying to be rude, but I noticed she as texting and not watching the road. I said I bet she didn't even realize. I said it scared me particularly since her baby was ion the car. I reminded her of the possibly of a horrible accident. She thanked me. She smiled. We waved and went on.  Punishing with kindness. Who would have ever thunk it?

2 comments:

  1. As someone who use to do this constantly, it amazes me how quickly you get used to it without even noticing you are doing it. I hope she took your words as a wake up call.

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