Sometimes trouble just comes to find you....
On Saturday our family headed out early so I could teach a book-related program at the Atlanta History Center. I was talking to our son in the back seat when I felt the brakes grab hard and turned to see a motorcycle pulling in front of us. Traffic was heavy, so there wasn't a lot of room for the guy, but my husband eased back to give some space. That's when the motorcyclist put his hand behind his back to give us a rude finger gesture. And just to make sure we knew our car was annoyingly in his way, he looked back at us, slid his hand over to push his jacket fabric aside, and shook the holstered gun hanging there. There had been no honking or gesturing on our part. With the thick traffic, we were not blocking an otherwise clear lane. We do not have any political bumper stickers to potentially offend. Regardless, on a beautiful, sunny spring morning our family was threatened for simply being in the spot where the motorcyclist wanted to be.
I tried to shrug off the incident, but I found it difficult. In the car that morning, before the motorcyclist interrupted us, we'd been talking with our child about politics, values, beliefs, and respect for others. In this election year, I find many polarizing and divisive messages everywhere I turn. The rudeness, the lack of empathy wears on me sometimes. I found myself wondering how far our society has gone downhill that this young man felt entitled to bully a family sharing the roadway. All day I made a point to be extra polite and kind when I could, trying to balance out the bad experience. A spring day at the Center helped. After the presentation, I strolled the grounds with my family and enjoyed the quiet simplicity of the old farm buildings. I didn't have my good camera with me, but I enjoyed snapping some pictures with my phone.
As I moved through the old buildings, the word weathered came to mind. Weathered wood looks old because it has withstood many a hot summer, cold winter, and spring storm. The living history education buildings look faded yet are well taken care of so that they retain their strength. Those weathered structures were standing during slavery, the Jim Crow era, two world wars, the McCarthy era, the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s, and more. Progress isn't always quick or easy. Sometimes our society takes a step back before it can take another one forward. Furthermore, rude and self-absorbed people like our motorcyclist exist in every era, every place. Thankfully, they are not the norm. And I will do what I can to make sure that kindness and thoughtfulness are the norm around me.