Is It Just Being Rude or Being Oblivious?

After mulling this over all day, I just had to write about something that happened to me. Last night, I went out to pick up dinner at the local KFC/Gas Station combo (I'll discuss more about that in the another blog.). Pulling into the parking lot, I grab the last parking spot available and ran in to get our dinner.

Ten minutes later, I came out to my car only to find a bronze color Nissan Frontier truck parked less than six inches from my driver's side. My initial reaction was "How rude!" Not only could I not get into my car (I had to enter in on the passenger side and crawl over the shifter to get into the driver's seat), but I couldn't back out either.

The driver came out while I was crawling into my seat and could clearly see I was having difficulty, but he took his sweet time in rearranging his stuff in the back of his truck before looking up to see my struggle. He yelled something to me for which I couldn't hear but I yelled back telling him I couldn't get out.

He finally decided it would be a good idea to get in his truck and back out. Didn't even apologize or anything. Then took off like a shot without a waive and got onto the ramp heading southbound to who knows where.

When I relayed this incident to my husband after I got home, he said that he didn't think it was so much rudeness as it was being oblivious. This got me thinking about this very subject for most of the night while I was up trying to digest the clearly bad choice in dinner selections.

Now I ask, "Is this just rudeness or a case of being oblivious?"

My conclusion...I believe that we have become encumbered with numerous internal and external distractions that the rules and common courtesies of driving have become lost. So not only do these distractions cause us to be oblivious, but they ultimately lead to rudeness.

What was it that was so important to the man driving the bronze Nissan Frontier truck that he couldn't properly park his car in the parking space next to mine? Was his distraction so great that he couldn't see that his car was so close to mine? Did he not realize that just maybe the driver of the car that he had parked so close to would return to said car before he returned to his truck?

Apparently the answer is No, No and No.

So, now what am I going to do about it? Since I decided to write about it, then I guess the answer to the question is bring this to the attention of everyone. Driving a car is serious business, and distractions such as day-dreaming, talking on the cell-phone, and putting sugar in our coffee cup or whatever else that helps us to not pay attention can cause serious damage.

Luckily, the guy in the truck didn't hit me, but he could have. The way he peeled out of the parking lot and sped up the ramp indicates he was probably in a hurry to get somewhere and distracted by the fact that he was running late.

Distractions are a bad thing when behind the wheel. Let's start paying attention for the sake of everyone out there.

Oh, and by the way, this is a subject that can translate into other areas of life. The next time someone scowls at you and whatever, just ask yourself, "Was I being rude or was I just oblivious?"