The turn is on a bend in the road. As I drive towards it the road curves to the right and the entrance I want is just round the apex of the corner, on the right.
Once you pass the apex you can see the turn clearly so I was slowing as I drove towards the bend in the road when the other car came at me. Both wheels well over the white lines, I swerved hard, mounted the pavement with a bang, avoiding the other car which didn’t even slow down but sped off round the bend and out of sight.
What the fuck just happened.
I guided my car off the pavement and could tell something was wrong but the road was clear so I coasted round the bend and turned off into the entrance that I was headed for, off the road at least.
Shaken, I got out, and could see the front tyre was ripped and the back alloy had been cracked and the tyre was already going flat. Under the front wheel arch it looked like a bit jammed up.
And the other driver didn’t even stop.
The birth of the moron
One of my pet peeves, kinda one of my only ones, is people who aren’t considerate of others. You know the type, they park in disabled spots cos “they’re just nipping in”, they don’t hold doors but let them swing without even looking back, they glance around before leaving their dog shit on the pavement.
I get it, we don’t always know what’s going on with other people, maybe they’ve had a bad day and are lost in their thoughts, maybe they’ve just “had enough” and ignore the rules for a second, or maybe they’ve were brought up to only think of themselves.
Whatever the reason I just can’t find a way to excuse it, doubly so when on the few occasions I’ve said something —breaking my inbred desire to avoid conflict— and I’ve gotten either no reaction or response, or been told to fuck off.
I always fear that these little misdeameanours are the tip of the iceberg, signs that there is more unsavoury behaviour going on, and these days I have to wonder if it leads people towards the darker places of society as they rant and moan about “some woke nonce” having a go at them for parking in a bus stop, ffs.
It’s no big leap of imagination to go from that to the rise of Ref?rm in the UK, through the eroding of basic human decency and consideration, and the lessening of others by race, or gender, or ability, or religion.
Wherefore empathy?
It seems to me that things like empathy and community are starting to disappear and I can understand why given the economic pressure everyone is under which drives a level of political polarisation, which isn’t helped by social media pushing people toward fear, tribalism, and anger.
Of course the far-right have contributed to this by framing society in terms of “us versus them,” —even though the leaders are clearly only in it for themselves, something the ‘followers’ never seem to realise— all of which raises suspicion of outsiders and reducing the sense of shared responsibility for neighbours and vulnerable people.
Oddly it’s clear that most of the people drawn to the far-right are, themselves, feeling insecure, or isolated and that the state has forgotten about them and pushed them aside, you know, to make way for ‘them’.
I understand that we are going through a societal change, that the cutbacks of so many services —thanks to the Tories— makes people feel less valued, less seen. The disappearance of those services; local communities, unions, churches, shared public spaces, are a loss of all the things that help create stable social ties, and as they disappear, so the anger rises in a somewhat vicious cycle. Then anger about losing those places has nowhere to go.
Except it does, of course it does, and social media plays a large part in taking blame for this bleak landscape.
We know online life amplifies outrage far more effectively than compassion, and it’s easy to stoke the fires, to make society appear harsher and more divided than it actually is, and the spark becomes a flame…
A Quiet hope
That said, if you look more closely you can see the signs that people are still helping each other; the volunteers are still turning up, the food banks, the community support groups, even little acts of kindness, and the good news items that don’t feature on heavy rotation on mainstream media are still happening.
It’s worth remembering this, remembering that care and empathy still exists, even if social media doesn’t amplify it as much. It’s found in all sorts of places, and it doesn’t need to be an explicit act, hell even the act of sharing cute dog videos is showing kindness!
I believe, because I have to believe that empathy remains, that it is just being drowned out because it’s always quieter and less visible than fear and conflict.
Of course that doesn’t mean there won’t be inconsiderate morons to deal with, but hopefully the next time I get run off the road the other person might think to stop.
Ohhh and the car was written-off and sadly won’t be replaced. I was fine, just badly shaken up but thankful it was only me in the car.
What are your thoughts?