DE252 Road Rage, how it can entrap you, and how to get rid of it!

It’s undoubtedly growing and becoming a norm in our road and social culture. Today’s show is going to be a bit personal, as I share my 3 personal experiences, takeaways and lessons learned from road rage.

My first engagement with road rage goes way back when I was only 7. This was back in the 60s and even though the term road rage hadn’t been coined yet, there were still a number of incidences happening.

I remember traveling with my mom to see her mother (my grandmother) and as we turned down the street that my grandmother lived on, down the end of the crowded street, we saw a woman trying to back out of a driveway. As she did this, another car further down the street was speeding towards the woman. I could clearly tell that there was going to be a big calamity about to unfold before our eyes. My mom, however, in an attempt to stop the whole incident from happening decided to speed up our car, tearing down the street, and eventually positioning us between the woman trying to back out of the driveway and the incoming speeding car, in doing so, my mom blocked the incoming car.

The man from the speeding car immediately sprung out of his vehicle and mad with rage, he began a series of yelling and screaming.

That marked my first experience with road rage, and from it, I learned two important lessons, righteousness and bravery.
Anyone in my mom’s position could have opted to mind their own business and let fate take its course. But not my mom though a petite 110-pound lady. She decided to put not just herself, but her 7-year-old son in harm's way for the sake of this total stranger’s safety.

My second experience with road rage happened in 1980. I was working for an electrical contractor based in Essex County, New Jersey. It was Christmas Eve and my partner Paul and I was working on a certain contract in Newark, New Jersey (Newark was a pretty unsafe place to be back in the day). It was noon, and Paul and I had gone to grab some food as we get ready to call it a day. On our return to the truck, we found a small car that had just double-parked us.

The car window was opened, so I jumped in, released the handbrake and we pushed the car across the street and out of the way. Out truck was now free.

As we returned to our truck, the owner of the car we just re-parked showed up and started tearing into us with all manner of yelling and screaming. Paul tried cooling him down, assuring him that his car was fine. But Paul’s methods didn’t seem to work, as the guy looked like he was ready to take the confrontation to the next level and go all physical on us.

Paul noticing what was about to happen, disappeared to the back of our track and showed up moments later with a conduit bender.
All this time, I’m standing by the side. Mouth zipped and silent as a grave.

They keep tearing into each other a bit more. I waited for a small break and decided to dive in, ‘’All right, let’s go home.’’

And I don’t know if it was the Holy Spirit working through me, but that’s all it took and the argument stopped.

What I learned from this incident is that you shouldn’t get into confrontations with strangers. Because first of all, you don’t know what this person is capable of as far as doing something stupid and do you really want to bring that person into your life through a relationship filled lawyers, council, litigation or jail?

My third personal experience involving road rage only happened about 3 – 4 weeks ago as I was driving west on Route 40, just out of Nashville.

There was something on my mind that was really disturbing me. I was in the middle lane and had been driving for about 10 minutes when someone who was driving so aggressively cut right in front of me.

This made me get so livid that I immediately switched to the fast lane, and to my surprise, I heard the sound of a screaming horn from my left side. I had just cut someone off!

Just like that, I could have wrecked someone else’s car, day and life, all because I got tripped up.

I learned that road rage is mostly a factor of being unconsciously tripped up into a situation that you’re fully aware of.

It’s all about self-awareness. We all have our personal issues that trouble our hearts and minds, and funny enough they always seem to pop up even in the most unexpected times. When this happens, we should cast away such thoughts and remain in the present moment, focus on nothing but the driving. And remember to keep the golden rule, if you ever find yourself in a road rage situation, defuse it immediately, drive away. Wave politely, and don’t get into any sort of encounter with a complete stranger.

Timestamps:

[1:20] Love our show? Remember to subscribe and share it with your friends and family.
[1:45] Introduction. Road rage.
[2:14] My first experience with road rage
[8:54] Cancer that is road rage. The news, facts, and incidents surrounding road rage in America Today.
[11:22] my second experience with road rage
[17:45] Anatomy of road rage. How does road rage develop?
[19:36] My fiancée’s experience and thoughts on road rage
[21:07] The danger of road rage, and why you should avoid it
[22:50] My third and most recent experience with road rage.
[26:05] How to avoid road rage
[29:07] Listen to Jesus Teaches

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