From Rev. Rebecca’s Sunday Sermon:
In The Book of Joy the Dali Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu tell us there is another way besides getting angry at jerks and telling them where to go. Once when the author of the book Doug Abrams was driving, with the Archbishop in the driver seat, Doug was curious, “Oh my gosh, how does this spiritual giant drive? What does he do in bad traffic?” As he is asking himself this very question, a driver pulled out in front of them, the Archbishop slammed on his brakes and swerved to avoid a collision. “There are some truly amazing drivers on the road!” the Archbishop said, with a great big chuckle.
So Doug asked him, “What goes through your head in moments like these?” He said that perhaps they are on the way to the hospital because his wife is in the labor or he has a sick relative. Doug writes, “There is was. He reacted with the inevitable and uncontrollable surprise, which is one of instinctual responses, but then instead of taking the low road of anger, he took the high road of humor, acceptance, and even compassion. And it was gone: no fuming, no lingering frustration, no raised blood pressure.
May we all be more empathetic, slow to anger and quick to love.