Arrogant:

I've had a difficult time thinking of something to write in this blog. I did a really great one about my family but I felt that the sentiments expressed were far too personal to allow just anyone to read. But you really have to believe it was one of my best pieces.

Now I have a topic: arrogant behavior. According to American Heritage dictionary arrogant is an adjective meaning: Overly convinced of one's own importance; overbearingly proud; haughty.

Why?, you might ask do I write about this topic. Well let me tell you about what I saw this weekend that pretty much made me determine that this was the problem with our world today. WE all SUFFER from arrogance. My evidence is in the three seperate vehicle accidents I saw on Friday. The first was a scene where most of the accident was cleared off the road but the last vehicle that remained was a black pickup truck. It was inmovable due to the fact the engine was gone! Smashed to smeethereens! Now this accident happened on a road that the speed limit is fairly fast (4omile an hour) but for this amount of destruction I seriously believe that they had to have been going far more than that. My second exhibit for my case was a double accident on the interstate. Posted speed limit is 60 miles an hour. Several vehicles involved in each accident. Two were pickup trucks. One truck was bent into a check mark; the other was bent in a converse fashion to the other. The cause of this accident I'm sure was a couple of things. It is plain just a bad spot. Traffic converges there. People are entering the interstate. Folks are trying to exist the interstate to meet up with another, and others are just plain trying to get through the mess. But see this is where arrogance comes into play. No one wants to yield to the next guy. Everyone thinks that they are so important that to allow someone to go in front of them is a terrible inconvience. We are not a nation that knows how to yield.

Look at how we view our world. We cannot concieve that other people do not think like us. We value, respect and demand individuality and independence out of our citizentry. When we run across cultures that do not value these things we think them backwards and odd. Often these very cultures that are so different from our own see individuality and independence as abhorrent to society. They are actually viewed as a deteriment to society. Who's to say we're right and their wrong or vice a versa.

After the last few days, I think, I'm willing to say that there should be a limit to our individuality and independence. Becoming a mother has changed my perspective on the world so profoundly that I am far more humble than I used to be. For example, I would far prefer allowing you to go ahead of me. I no longer speed and feel impatient most of the time I'm in my car. (I will admit that there are still times I'm impatient. It is a character flaw.) My safety and the safety of my children are the most important thing to me. I've got to be there for them.

So I am appealing to you! Please practice a bit of humbleness the next time you are in your car. Your life is a precious thing; protect it. Needless to say that the next person's life is just as valuable. They maybe racing to work to write down the formula that is going to develop the cure for AIDS or cancer so make allowances for the next guy.