It seems every time you turn on the news there is some
announcement of a new accident, or a new police program, or a new law that is
somehow related to driving and talking or texting. Distracting driving is all the rage these
days.
Years ago,
I met a lady who had just moved into my area.
She had a brood of children from different fathers and a procession of
boyfriends. Stability wasn’t her middle name, but at the time we met I didn’t
know that. I was just happy to meet a new face in the neighbourhood.
She told me a story about an unreasonable landlord who
wouldn’t let her use her last month’s rent as her monthly rent, and how that
had forced her to move to my neighbourhood. It would never occur to me to ask
my landlord to use my last month’s rent as my rent. This is a person who thinks
differently than I do so that piqued my interest enough to stick around for the
rest of the story.
As it turns out the fee for retrieving her vehicle from
impound and to pay the speed racing tickets was about $1,300 in total. But she had good cause - she was driving home and talking to her boyfriend on her cell phone. The argument they got into was quite heated and she proceeded
to speed at about 140 in a 90 zone right in front of the police who did their
civic duty. I never did find out if any of her kids were with her in the car.
Here’s where the conversation got awkward and I just held
on until it was over. Her story painted her as the hapless victim, blaming everyone
for the situation she found herself in. The (now ex) boyfriend, the police, the
tow truck guy, the landlord, and every government employee that she called to
get more assistance would have experienced the
same 'poor me' story that I heard, followed by rage when it became apparent
that they couldn’t or wouldn’t help her.
Eventually with a little introspection many people would have settled into
feeling a little shame and embarrassment for their actions. This lady was different - she was quite convinced that her initial
behavior (speeding) should have been glossed over because she’s a single mom
of many children and their primary care giver.
To this I say NO. Don’t ask others to compensate for your bad behavior. Suck it up and
make amends. If you want to know how responsible you are for your own life then google Larry Winget, he will set you straight.