If you were driving around town Tuesday afternoon you probably were not driving too fast. An overturned tractor trailer on I95 caused massive congestion on all major thoroughfares in town. The Post Road was a tortoise-paced crawl and North Street was bumper to bumper. As we found ourselves attempting to navigate streets and intersections over swollen with traffic, everywhere we looked we witnessed a lack of patience.
When there is nowhere for the traffic to go, how does honking your horn help the situation? Making wild hand gestures may relieve some stress for you but only adds to other’s stress levels. You must have patience. Spiking your blood pressure is not helpful and, in fact, is not even healthy.
Having patience was not just important on Tuesday, it is important every day. Especially now. It seems as though every major artery in town is having tree limbs trimmed, power line upgraded or sewer improvements. The result is there are traffic slowdowns everywhere at the moment. If you do not have patience you are in for a stress filled fall.
Patience and kindness are two concepts we should practice more than just when we are driving. They seem to be in short supply everywhere we look. People seem more tense and agitated. In fact, there seems to be a steady and ongoing rise in people’s agitation and lack of patience and kindness. For the sake of our community we must reverse this trend.
Over the years we have run an ad in our paper and in Greenwich Magazine titled “24 Acts of Kindness.” It was a friend’s idea. We have not run it in a while, but we still see it hanging in some local stores. Given the mood of the last few days we felt listing the “acts” here would be a good idea.
Take a few minutes, if it occurs to you this weekend, to practice a few of these acts of kindness.
• Be nice.
• Let someone into your lane. They’re probably in a rush just like you.
• Tell your child you think they’re awesome (and be prepared for them to ask why).
• Hold the door for someone.
• When you grocery shop, pick up one extra of everything and drop it off at Neighbor to Neighbor.
• Refrain from honking your horn unless it is a safety issue.
• Put your phone away and be an active listener.
• Avoid interrupting others when they are speaking.
• Say please, thank you, and you’re welcome.
• Smile… great! Now smile at someone while making eye contact.
• Let the person behind you in line go ahead of you if they are in a hurry or with children.
• Hit that LIKE button.
• Call your mother, and your grandparents.
• Let the other driver have the parking space … even on the Ave.
• Send flowers.
• Compliment
• Hold the elevator.
• Remind yourself that everyone is the hero of their own story.
• Empathize.
• Give up your seat.
• Purchase some extra dog or cat food and drop it off at the animal control center with some old tennis balls.
• Buy lemonade from a children’s lemonade stand.
• Be patient.
