A Fire-Breathing Dragon is no match for a Sweet Old Lady.

On my birthday this year, I spent the whole day doing a two-step paint correction on my truck. First step was to remove the water spots and moderate scratches with Griot’s Garage Complete Compound with an orange foam pad on their Random Orbital Polisher. The second step, I used their Ceramic All-in-One Wax, which removes swirl marks and fine scratches while leaving behind a durable ceramic protection. There was a noticeable difference in the way the truck looked! It’s a 2008 Silverado and it’s in great shape, I’d like to keep it that way.

Earlier last week I was driving to an appointment. As I was driving along the freeway to my appointment, all of a sudden, I heard a crunch on the passenger’s side of the vehicle. It sounded like my side door was fully crushed in. When I looked, all I could see was the roof of a silver Civic out my passenger side window. Once she got back into her lane, I pulled in behind it. I noticed her driver’s side mirror was folded in, but the driver acted as if nothing had happened. After waving her down and signaling to pull over, she pulled off at the next exit; no shoulder due to construction. We pulled into the entrance of a temporarily closed Park And Ride, I parked on the passenger side of her. When I got out of my truck, I was a fire-breathing dragon on the inside for two reasons. One, this was my precious “in good shape” old truck. And two, I can’t believe I had to l flag her down and signal her to pull over. Was she trying to get away with a hit and run? It took her a while to get out of the vehicle. I, had already gotten out of my truck and walked to her door. When she stepped outside of her vehicle, I could see why. It was a frail old lady. She reminded me of my maternal grandmother. I couldn’t tell whether she was asking me or telling me when she said, “My mirror is folded in?!” I said, “Because you hit me.” Then, I walked off (to go check the damage). In disbelief, she said, “Excuse me sir, where do you think you’re going?” Still breathing fire, I said, “To check out the damage.” The way in which she replied was with remembrance and a sweet sympathetic eagerness to see, “Oh, yes! Let’s go checkout, the damage.” This was the turning point in the conversation. If sweetness was water, she used the water in all the oceans to put out this dragon’s fire. I went from fire-breathing dragon to thinking, “What a sweet old lady” in a split second.

When we both got over to the passenger side of my truck, all I saw was a scratch. Wiping it with my finger and relieved to see that the side of my door wasn’t crushed in, I said, “I can buff that out.” With her blue knitted glove on, she held out her hand like she was hoping I would accept her gesture of an apology and thanking me at the same time. So I shook her hand. When she started to describe her excuse she said, “My dog-”. I immediately interrupted her with a puff of smoke from a dragon that has had its fire put out, and said, “Driving is more important than your dog.” And with all the sweetness in the world, she said, “Yes, driving is more important than my Chihuahua.” I patted her on the shoulder, almost as if to give her a hug, and said, “Pay attention.” So I hopped in my truck and still made it to my appointment on time.

When I got home that day, in a different light, I noticed there is a dent about two inches long. That won’t buff out. I have been searching for a good Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) business. There are a couple of very small dents on the horizontal surfaces, on the hood and the edges of the truck bed that have been there since I got the truck. I can live with those. And no dents the vertical surfaces of my old truck; until now. Of course it’s the only thing I see when I’m on the passenger side.

I know I was in my lane at the time of the accident because I was looking straight forward and listening to my podcast. Even though the police, insurance companies and witnesses would say it was her fault, as I’m writing this, I realized it was my fault because I could have avoided it. I was only looking forward and listening to my podcast, I WASN’T scanning back to where I was. If I had been, I would’ve seen a silver Civic getting too close to me and could have avoided it. Such as, honk and check the express lane for room to enter, and/or speeding up or slowing down. Also, listening to a podcast was splitting my attention from driving. If you want 100% results, you can’t be doing 50% podcast listening and 50% driving. This is a sad but true statement: You can split your attention between anything and driving, but the moment two or more drivers are not paying attention to their driving at the same exact time and space, you exponentially increase your chances of getting involved in an accident. Does this mean I should stop listening to a podcast while driving? I think so. That may seem extreme, but if my greatest desire is to be on the race track, then why am I focusing on a podcast and not focusing on building techniques while driving on the streets?

May we pay and choose our attentions wisely.