THE WAVE
/With my left blinker on and my speed approaching that of the adjacent traffic lane, I look for some sign of “permission” to merge. The BMW driver in the adjacent lane is just slightly behind me, and I adjust my speed as the merge lane is quickly coming to an end.
“Come ‘on, please let me in.”
But to no avail. The BMW accelerates, leaving me no choice but to quickly brake and dart in behind the BMW, surprising the driver of the Toyota behind me.
“Sorry …” I say with a quick wave of my hand.
My drive to work continues.
Now it’s my turn. I see a car with its left blinker on in the merge lane. Now I have a choice. One, I can speed up and leave the merging to another driver behind me (after all, someone just did it to me). Or two, I can slow down and let the driver enter the traffic lane.
I slowed down and let the driver merge into the traffic lane in front of me. And you guessed it, I quickly received an appreciative wave from the driver in front of me.
Now this story may sound trite and simple (and it is), but merging traffic and the hand wave illustrates two values that are seemingly in rare supply – kindness, and gratitude.
Kindness has been defined as “the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.” Kindness is often stated as the rarest of gestures because it is given freely, without conviction, and without any expectation of payback.
Gestures of kindness can be experienced throughout the day in many ways - opening the door for someone else, donating to a charity, visiting someone in the hospital, or turning something into the lost and found. It doesn’t have to be big. It just needs to come from the heart.
Gratitude has been defined as “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.” Gratitude is something we often take for granted. We like it when someone shows gratitude to us, but often times we are slow to show gratitude to others. Sometimes, our gratitude is absent altogether.
Gratitude can be experienced throughout the day by thanking God for another day on this great earth, thanking your spouse for their love and support, thanking the pilot as you exit the plane, and thanking your customers for the privilege of serving them. Just like acts of kindness, gestures of gratitude do not have to be big. They just need to come from the heart.
For now, I will leave you with the image of the merging traffic and the wave of the hand, and the thought of how much better the world would be if we were all a bit more kind, and a bit more grateful.
Until Next Friday,
