Have you ever been assaulted by road rage when driving out and about? If so, what’s the best way to respond?
I tell about the choice I made when faced with a driver who expressed great anger toward me while driving down the highway.
This vlog was filmed in the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, when my wife and I visited the area in September 2022.
I like that Evan .., examine ourselves and love one another ..thank you !
Thank you, Evan for sharing this experience and how best to respond. It does make the world a better place, experience by experience.
Yes, thank you Evan ! When i see someone expressing anger like that i hsve compassion on them . They seemed to have liost there joy,, they must be having a hard day
I really relate to Dottie’s approach and feel compassion for unhappy people.
I might think they must be in a hurry today because they feel overwhelmed etc.
Returning good for evil always works in the long run.
Oops their joy
Thank you Evan for sharing your teaching example about how peace and divine Love always will overcome hatred and madness on the road.
Yes. I taught my children to pull back as if you were a camera lens from a nasty scene and watch it like a bad Italian movie. no offense to Italians but they knew what I meant. I also taught them when one of them frequently was screamed at by another child to imagine this child was speaking a language my child didn’t understand. The otherchild responded, What are you deaf! Today these two women are good friends. We had other things we used to not get sucked into the situation. My children remember them and laugh and also remember how they worked. I didn’t quite have the opportunity to suggest forgiveness and what that really means but sometimes I would simply say that the person didn’t know any better. You cannot control or change the other guy but you can choose how you will respond. I still pull back like a camera lens and pray. Ha
Evan thanks for your message today about returning compassion in the face of anger. Recognizing the true nature of the other person and our own true nature in God is the best way to deal with any discords as we go down the “road of life” each day.
Nadine I really like your method of pulling back like a camera to keep ourselves from getting sucked into and reacting to the material picture of things.
Thank you Evan. Those thoughts are such helpful thoughts.they are my “daily bread “ thought’s today . In other words they meet my need today to stamp out all impatient thoughts and fill me with more love and patience . I like to think of “ a soft answer turneth away wrath”
I had what I thought was a “road rage” experience driving on busy city streets. The other driver kept coming up next to me and at first I was afraid of what she might do. But then I prayed and loved her just as Evan described. At a stop light, I rolled down my window and apologized and then she apologized to me! We shared a few loving words and then she said “you have a blessed day!” and we went on our ways. I was so grateful to see road rage turn into road love!
It is always good to try to see the native goodness in everyone, as we
never know what challenges others may seem to be going through. Easier
said than done, sometimes. In our reaching out with kindness, even if only
in thought, we help in making it a better world.
(Btw, I like the sprouting hands artwork, before the video, Evan.)
this reminds me too of one of my favorite hymns – speak gently to the erring ones, they must have toiled in vain. perchance unkindess made them so…oh win them back again….. speak gently tis a little thing…dropped in the heart’s deep well. the good, the joy that it may bring….eternity shall tell.
Thanks Tricia, a lovely hymn. Is it in the CS hymnal?
Yes, Rose, that beautiful hymn is in the Christian Science Hymnal in 2 different melodies: p. 315 and p. 316. The latter version was sung with guitar accompaniment in a recording made several years ago by Larry Gross. It is very comforting and peaceful.
Thank you Ann and Annie for giving the hymn number references. I was able to listen to both versions here:
https://www.christianscience.com/additional-resources/churches-societies-and-groups/resources-for-hybrid-services-and-activities/music-for-branch-church-services/hymns-300-399
Thank you Rose for sharing the link
Hymn 316/16:
Speak gently, it is better far
To rule by live than fear…
Speak gently, ‘TIS a little thing,
Dropped in the heart’s deep well;
The good, the joy that it may bring,
Eternity shall tell.
Hoe often our hymns encapsulate such profound ideas through their exquisite poetry.
What a valuable lesson we’re discussing today, as road rare takes on many guises. We mustn’t be pulled into hostilities which do not belong to us— nor anyone, for that matter.
I’ve loved this conversation, & especially Nadine’s instructions!!!
Love to all those seeking better solutions, based on Love, so beautifully lived by our Master.
Oops – correction
Live is supposed to be
“To rule by LOVE …”[finger slip!]
Another great vlog Evan. More and more I’m realizing how thought gets externalized; anger, despair, identifying as a victim of some power or situation outside of my control, etc, like deliberate wrong doing, go hand-in-hand with sickness and disease – locked at the hip as it were. Makes the solution easy to find.
This scenario happened to me and I started to take offence, but instead I took the stance that Dottie mentioned and relieved myself of those negative feelings toward the driver and put it out of mind,
All comments are great for so many situations. Thanks, Evan, for another wonderful vlog.
Thank you, Evan, for another inspiring vlog.
All the comments continue showing the inspiration and goodness we are all portraying as we express the peacemaking we are created to express.
Thank you all.
“There is no inaction, overreaction nor reaction”….comes to mind here. We do have to watch our thinking that WE aren’t reacting to something directed to us that is making us “feel” like reacting! As everyone has agreed to, we just need to love the person doing or saying something objectionable, and go forward with love of that individual and ourselves, as well.
Road rage comes about in many ways. Thank you Evan for this thought and experience. Let me share this experience.
One afternoon as I was moving along the road I met two men. These men as they were conversing, said they would go into an evangelical church and gun down the members, because they were still in church at 2pm. Immediately I heard this I prayed to see God’s perfect children. I held in thought this Bible verse, ‘This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.’ Immediately one of them said. “let’s go, let’s allow them.” This happened during a period of unrest and lawlessness, where I lived at the time.
Truly Christian Scientists are light that shines in the darkness, even on the streets.
I had an humbling experience when driving down a narrow country road. I was passed by a speeding BMW. At first it startled me. Then I kept envisioning and almost expecting his car to be turned over on the side of the road.
That is when I knew that I needed to pray for him instead of objecting to his carelessness.
So I prayed knowing that nothing could endanger his life. I also saw him as undisturbed, calm and peaceful. At that moment I knew that his only life was in God and that he was safe and free from harmful thoughts or surroundings.
That was all I needed to do. God was present and that was the fact.
My thought was purified and I’m sure his was too.
Thank you Evan. Our Heavenly Holy Spirit enlightened me years ago that I am to control my own car and control my own attitude. I leave the other driver/s car and attitude to God.
Wow! Evan, thank you so much for your Vlog and healing comments. And much gratitude to all of you who responded and shared your own healing experiences. Since most of us are drivers, we do need to remain vigilant, not just “humanly” but spiritually, which blesses ourselves and our fellow drivers. I’ve been so aware in recent years of the ever-growing congestion in my area–more housing developments and additional malls and shopping centers within just a few miles. It’s really important to maintain a calm, spiritually uplifted thought at all times, which blessed not only ourselves but everyone else as well.
Karen