Don't Talk to Strangers

It was early September. The temperature and humidity levels were perfect. I was driving down a busy four-lane thoroughfare with my driver’s side window down, listening to the radio. The street light ahead was red and a truck next to me slowed for it at the same rate as me.

The passenger rolled down his window as we both drew to a stop.

“Hi,” the passenger said. I stared straight ahead, pretending I didn’t hear him.

“Hi,” he said again. I continued to stare straight ahead, but contemplated rolling up my window. And-get this-I thought that would be rude. Even at the same time I was thinking this situation could turn dangerous, I thought to roll up my window would be rude.

All sorts of horrible scenarios flashed through my head, beginning with being flipped off to having a gun pointed at me.

“Hi.” 

A third time!

Human nature is crazy. I didn’t want to look his way. I didn’t. I wanted to ignore him. He was only five or six feet away from me. Just ignore him I said to myself.

And I looked over.

“Hi.” It was young kid. Probably in high school. I gave a feeble wave. He turned toward the passenger in the middle seat as he rolled up his window. That was it.

The light was now green and off they sped. I saw that it was two young men/boys and a girl with a brown ponytail who rode in the middle between them.

I watched them, as I drove thorough traffic, for as long as I could. I wanted to see if they “Hi’ed” anyone else, but there were no more red light opportunities.  They turned off into a local park.

I’m sure those kids were just goofing off. Maybe playing an ‘ I dare ya’ game. And that’s fine. I did that kind of thing back in the day, too.

The thing is, in this world things can spin out of control at any given moment.  I still can’t believe I looked over. I did exactly what he wanted me to do. Geesh!

Also, I hope that they specifically picked me for their little game because I looked so benign. But what if I wasn’t what I appeared to be? I, too, could have been something scary for them. I don’t want to be the kind of person that expects the worst out of my fellow human beings. And I don’t want to be naive and think that all people are good. I know they’re not.

So where’s the happy-medium?

I’m hoping that my intuition would let me know what to do. I hope that I looked at the guy because I somehow knew it was a simple situation of kids goofing around.

Another side of me says that I faced my possible danger instead of ignoring it.

How many times in our lives have we done something that Could Have Gone Badly? For me, probably too many to count. Being aware of those times, well, I don’t know if that’s helpful or not.

Both images courtesy of Google

One of my favorite saying is “Be the good you wish to see in the world.” That’s what I try to do each and every day. Facing possible scary situations shouldn’t change that daily goal.

There’s another saying, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Thanks for that one, Teddy R. 





Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine