Just some randomness going through my head today whilst participating in economy-building activities (aka Xmas-shopping). Overt displays of generosity and selfishness both seem to become more abundant at this time of year.
An example of the former: I was late getting going today, as I had an entire list of “to-dos” to complete on my first day of Xmas vacation. I was driving (only made it about 200 yds from my home as the proverbial crow flies; about 1/4 mile via road) and trying to multi-task placing my (newly acquired) Bluetooth headset over my ear. Mea culpa, I was driving too fast (not overly fast, but too fast for conditions) as I took a 90° RH turn on almost-glare ice roads (temps of -10°F tend to do that to snow-packed surfaces). The rear-end of my Ford Fusion floated out, and I was unable to recover it in time to prevent sliding nose-first into the neighbor’s snow-covered lawn on the right side of the road. Hindsight being 20-20, I should have added a touch of gas to pull it out of the slide (being FWD), but instead had just backed off the accelerator. Ach, what are ya gonna do?
Not given to histrionics – no comments from the peanut gallery – I figured that I’d just clear the snow away and back out. No big. Kicked snow from around both front tires in no time flat, but the car still wouldn’t budge – just a spinning right front tire. Then proceeded to clear snow from around entire front area of car. Still wouldn’t move. I then realized that it had ridden up on the snow enough that the tires weren’t making solid contact with the ground – just barely touching. I had just resigned myself to walking back home to get a couple shovels to dig out when the cavalry arrived in the form of John, a pickup-driving neighbor (whom I did not know). For old-time’s sake we tried the push-and-spin-tire routine, but that was fruitless. John then offered to give me a lift back to the house, which I was grateful for. Not that it was that far, but I was in a hurry to get my errands done, and especially wanted to get to the post office before the crowds arrived around noontime! And it was still a few degrees below zero… John whisked me back home, I grabbed the shovels, he brought me back, and we dug the car out in about 60 seconds. John continued on his way, and I on mine.
Now this wasn’t a radical thing; John didn’t save my life, pull me out of a burning house, lend me a kidney (mmmmm…kidney pie), or any such melodramatic thing. He just performed a very simple, straightforward, genuine, unselfish act of kindness. For which I was very grateful. And it made me reflect on the nature of the season.
To the counter-example: I was later in my sojourn ensnared in god-awful traffic in the parking lot of REI (an outdoor & sporting goods shop, for those uninitiated). Construction had closed one entrance into the lot, and competition was fierce to get in and out of the parking area. I started to back out of my spot only to have a woman race up behind me to gain access to the exit road. As soon as she moved, I started to back up again, only to have a guy in an SUV studiously ignoring my protruding rear-end (the car, not me!) and brake lights – “I see nothing, nothing!” – pull up directly behind me, blocking egress. This happened one or two more times before I was able to complete backing out and effect my escape. Far more important that these people make haste in their getaway than to allow my partially extricated vehicle to leave. Just plain rude if you ask me.
Many other far more engaging tales abound of woman’s humanity and inhumanity to woman (and man’s to man, and hermaphrodite’s to hermaphrodite, and all possible combinatorics of same), but it was these humble examples I experienced today that brought me to rumination on said topic. And a gentle reminder to me to try to be more John-like every day.