Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Random Acts of Kindness!


I drive to work everyday, the same freeway, the same street, pretty much the same parking spot. I know the way with my eyes closed pretty much. I exit the same offramp, go around the same curve and stop at the same stop sign. It's nice to see something different once in awhile. Once I saw deer prancing on the hillside, nice. Another time, a car turned upside down, not so nice.

Today, I was driving the usual but my mind started to wander. Have you ever arrived at a destination and didn't remember getting there? I'm told that we're hypnotized and pretty much on auto pilot. Our conscious mind takes care of business, while our sub-conscious mind solves problems. I guess today, I was singing along to the radio, while my sub-conscious mind was working things out, when my conscious mind hiccuped. When I exited the offramp and went to the street to turn before my office, I noticed flashing lights in my rear view mirror. I looked around to see who he was pulling over, but I was the only car. I panicked and tried to find a place to park, but the signs all said no parking. I have already broken some law, so I guess it was o.k. to park where it said no parking. What was he going to do, give me another ticket? I was still perplexed at why I was being pulled over, but I figured I would be finding out soon.

I dutifully shut off my ignition, rolled down the window and put my hands on the steering wheel where the officer could see them. In L.A. the police are very jumpy, so I didn't want to reach into anything when he arrived. He said the reason why he was pulling me over was that he saw me roll slowly to the stop sign, but I didn't actually "stop". We call this a California stop, where we look like we are stopping, but just cruise through. I stop at that stop sign EVERYDAY! But today, for some reason, my conscious self was being bad. There is a park and ride next to the offramp and CHP officers are always camped out there, to catch evil stop sign evaders. Today it was me.

He was a young, nice looking, Asian man. Very polite. He asked me for my license, registration and insurance. I fumbled through my purse and glove compartment and handed him my info. He went back to his car to check on my info. In my mind I was calculating how much the ticket would cost, the time I would have to spend in traffic school and the ticket being on my record. When he returned, he said he wanted to ask me a question and of course I said sure nervously. He asked when was the last time I received a ticket. I said a long, long time ago. He said he could tell from my record that I was a good driver and he was going to give me a break today and not give me a ticket. I told him I ALWAYS stop at that stop sign and he said he believed me. I thanked him profusely and told him I really appreciated it. He said to be more careful about stopping from now on and we parted ways.

I smiled as I was pulling away. I thought to myself how nice he was and that if he had been in a bad mood, or if I had given him attitude, how different things could've been. It's always nice to witness random acts of kindness and extra special when the kindness is upon you. This helps me remember what goes around comes around and that is something that I want to teach my daughter. Take some time to practice random acts of kindness when you can. It'll make you feel great!