I saw this phrase today on my toothpaste tube. It said, “Do a little good today.” It kinda made me groan, but it also made me think about driving, of all things.
The thing is, I have been thinking about how irritated I get with other drivers a lot lately (I know, I don’t know where this came from), and that driving in general is something that is either a neutral experience for me (at best) or a stressful/anger-inducing experience (at worst). It’s dumb, because other drivers are certainly not thinking of me, so why should I let it bother me.
This excerpt comes to mind as fitting:
When a dog barks, we might make a mental note that the dog in question appears to dislike us, but we would be utter fools to allow ourselves to become upset by this fact, to go through the rest of the day thinking, “Oh, dear! That dog doesn’t like me!”
William B. Irvine, A Guide to the Good Life
Naturally, I then thought of these two Venn diagrams.
The obvious answer here is to stop driving so much (you wouldn’t get a complaint from me about that). But since that’s not really an option, I resolved to be completely chilled out and patient this afternoon on the road. Guess what, it worked! I’ll try to keep it going.
I consider that doing something good.
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