Hurting People Hurt People

As I was driving down the road on a four lane highway today, a lady pulls out of a parking lot into the center lane of the road. Minding my own business, the incoming car doesn’t stop in the center lane to look but keeps heading towards me. Quickly, I sound the horn to let her know of my presence so as to avoid a wreck. As I sound the horn, she and the child (possibly pre-teen years) turns and finally sees me. Thankfully, we miss each other as I swerve into the outer lane to prevent a collison.

I thought, “Wow that was a close one.” After that the lady then gets behind me in traffic. The time for me to turn into my destination has come. I give my signal and get into the turning lane. As this lady passes me, I look staight ahead to see that she has rolled her window down to give me the middle finger. My immediate thought, “What? Has this lady lost it? First of all, she has a kid in the car with her. Certainly she is setting a bad example. Second, she is the one who almost ran into me because she did not look. Third, she is being immature and child-like. Come on grow up.”

After processing all this within a matter of seconds, I felt God challenge me to have compassion for the lady. I was able to understand that this lady is obviously in so much pain herself that she doesn’t know how to deal with it and is passing it along to the next person she comes in contact. All that to say, “Hurting People Hurt People, but Rarely Intend To.” God, may you touch this lady today and help me have a greater understanding of hurting people like her.