Ever want to follow a fellow motorist? You know, after they cut you off or box you in or speed up when you’re trying to pass them? Ever want to tail them all the way to their destination, step out of your car and simply ask them what offense you committed against him or her that such vehicular rudeness was warranted? I don’t know about you, but I find city and freeway driving nerve-wracking, not so much because of the potential for a wreck, but rather the subtle confrontations with other drivers.

When you stop to think about it, it seems ridiculous. As drivers, we all have one major thing in common: we’re all headed somewhere. Despite this bond, however, our arrogance materializes like a cartoon devil on our shoulder and whispers in our ear that our destination is far more important than the other persons’ in the car in front of us, and behind us, and two lanes over, and six miles ahead. Today, for instance, I found myself in rush hour in a far left lane that was turning into an “Exit Only.” I wanted to continue straight, so I turned on my blinker and checked my mirrors. There was a little bit of space to merge, but upon seeing my signal, the car behind me immediately sped up. I could tell as he drove past that he was upset; he was waving his hands and shaking his head and glaring into his rear-view. I was perturbed, and all I could think as I merged in behind him was, What did I ever do to this guy to make him so angry?

It’s hard not to recognize the surge of anger, resentment and distrust in our world today. It makes me wonder if human feeling always defaulted to this, or is such a reaction it learned? I believe that the majority of our world wants to come together – we want our governments to get along, we want our churches to get along, we want school kids to get along, we want our neighborhood to get along. The problem is, we are far more concerned with our frivolous, individual destinations, and ingrained upon our consciousness is the lie that everyone around us are speed bumps rather than fellow travelers on the same long road.

May we come to recognize and reject the lie. May we realize that, by and by, we’ll get to where we’re going, and all that will really have mattered is how well we merged with one another on the way.