Perhaps not everyone had a childhood as good as mine.  Perhaps not everyone had a mother that drove them 13.8 miles to kindergarten every day because they were afraid to ride the bus.  And perhaps, at the end of the school year, not everyone’s mother graduated from kindergarten for them because all that talk of black construction paper mortarboards and diplomas was more than this little spoiled girl could digest.  Perhaps I had it pretty darn good but I like to think it’s what contributed to the fair amount of patience, common sense and compassion I find myself using on a daily basis as an adult.

Today I ran across two rather rude people at two different times.  I could have reacted badly and handled things differently than I did but I decided they probably weren’t as fortunate as me when I was a kid.  They didn’t have those qualities I am sure I learned from a very patient and compassionate mother that was loaded with common sense.

The first incident happened  while I was en route to work.  Traffic is always overwhelming in the morning and at times there are so many cars in the inside lane that there isn’t enough room for cars behind you to make their way into the left turn lane beside you until the light you are waiting for turns green.  There was a little car the color of a sky blue crayola crayon behind me that needed to turn left and when I was in his way he honked at me and drove up on the curb and proceeded to get where he needed to go.  Waiting for approximately 30 seconds was not going to be a part of his plan.   No patience there.

The next incident happened when I stopped at the convenience side of the grocery store I frequent.  I filled my car with gas and then made a quick run inside for a gallon of milk.  I paid and just as I went to open the door a woman on a bicycle appeared and almost hit me.  The sidewalk outside the door is quite narrow and that is where she decided to ride her bike so if I had exited a few seconds sooner I would be scrubbing some tire tracks off my jeans and scrounging around in the medicine cabinet for band aids!  She showed absolutely no remorse nor did she apologize.  She just continued on with what she needed to do.  No common sense and no compassion there.

I’m not sure just how patience, common sense and compassion are wound into a person but there are sure differing degrees of it among the people I meet.  I would be willing to bet their outlook on life would be a whole lot different if they would have had a mom that was as cool as mine.  They would have learned that the best time to be a bit spoiled and a bit rotten is when they’re 5 or less and not 35 or more.