stop waiting.

Taking my daughter to school yesterday morning I found myself behind that car. The driver was waving his arm out the window, trying to get another car that was attempting to leave the parking lot to turn in front of him, before he turned in himself. 

He was... being nice. I guess. Giving up his right-of-way to let someone else get out before him. 

But, here's the problem. 

Well, first, the driver was on his cell phone and oblivious to the guy waving his arm out the window - but that's a whole other problem. 

The other problem is that, in trying to be nice, he was actually backing up the traffic behind him, including me, and confusing everyone around him. Is he going to go? Is he in trouble? Is he going to pull out right when the other guy does? What's he doing? 

I'm all for breaking bad rules and destroying unjust systems. This is not that. 

Go. 

You're meant to go. You're meant to be "selfish" by pulling into the parking lot. You're meant to stop waiting and stop waving your hand out the window. 

Eventually the man did go. I pulled in after him and the man who had been waiting to leave, left right behind me. 

Lots of added drama and stress just trying to be nice. 

The moral of the story: be careful how you choose to be nice. Sometimes you need to stop waiting and press the accelerator - everyone will be just fine when you do. In fact, they might be even better.