The most amazing thing happened to me the other day! I was in my car, leaving a parking lot. It was a loop parking lot, only one way in, which is also the way out.
As I was exiting the lot, a car was pulling out of a space near the entrance, so I stopped and let them out. As they pulled away, a large SUV nosed into the just-vacated space, but the driver stopped suddenly. He looked over at me, his eyes got big and his mouth made an “oh.” He pointed at me, then pointed to the parking space, as if to say, “sorry, were you waiting for this space?” I was surprised and delighted. This driver, bigger than me though he was, was going to yield to me if I laid claim to this space. Amazing. So I smiled my most dazzling smile and shook my head “no.”
A simple act of social awareness, of thinking beyond one’s self. Why has graciousness fallen from fashion? And how do we get it back?
