I was on my way to a nursing home counseling session, when I was rudely cut off in traffic by a young lady talking on her cell phone and paying absolutly no attention to how she was driving. I started to feel a surge of anger, but I decided that it was no big deal, and quickly let it go. I came to the next intersection and this same lady was in the right hand turn-only lane. When the light turned red she promptly went straight and cut me off again. I slammed on my brakes and the guy behind me nearly rear-ended me. As if that was not enough, my car then stalled and so did the guy's behind me. It appeared as though the driver behind me could not get his car to restart, so after restarting mine, I went back to help him out.

As I continued my drive in a state of frustration, I wondered if there was a lesson I was to learn by this young lady being so rude and cutting me off, not only once but twice. I drove about two more miles down the Interstate, and there sitting on the shoulder of the highway was the young lady with her car overheated. For a split second I wanted to say to her, "it serves you right," but I felt a sense of compassion overpower my initial feelings and I pulled over behind her car to help.

The young lady walked up to me and said, "thank you so much for pulling over as I don't know what to do." I could see that she had been sobbing about something other than her car overheating, so I asked her what the problem was. She explained that the car she was driving was a rental car, and she had just came from the airport where she had arrived from Texas to be with her father who was about to die. He wasn't expected to make it through the day, and was a resident in a nursing home. I looked at her and comfortingly asked what nursing home she was going to, thinking that maybe I could offer her a ride. Much to my amamzement her father was at the same nursing home that I was going to.

We drove together to the nursing home and fortunately, the young lady's father was still hanging on to life. As I found out later, she was an only child and was extremely comforted by being able to share her father's last moments with him.

I completed my counseling session with some of the nursing home residents and then I went to check on the lady and her father. The nurses at the nursing home had told her that I was a Hospice Counselor, and the lady asked if we could talk. As we talked of her father and her feelings, she looked at me and said, "You know something else? On my way here I was driving really fast and crazy, because I just wanted to be with my father before he passed. I normally don't drive like that, and I know that I cut a lot of people off. Do you think they will forgive me?" I just looked at her and said, "trust me, you have been forgiven."

It never ceases to amaze me how powerful simple acts of kindness are. Had I not stopped and helped this woman, she would have not been with her father when he drew his dying breath. And for me, my kindness reinforced the truth in giving the benefit of the doubt to everyone (even the rudest of drivers).