“Turn the other Bumper”

{ June 7, 2009 @ 4:08 pm } · { Discipleship, Entertainment, Uncategorized }
{ Tags: bumper, car, character, I-64, truck }

As I was talking with my son today after church he said, Dad, did I tell you I was hit while driving on I-64 this week? He proceeded to tell me that while on the interstate traffic had slowed to crawl, then to a stop. He noticed there was a large pick-up truck  following extremely close to his rear bumper. Literally right on top of Him. So, as traffic began to move my son began to take his foot off the break and depress the clutch and his car rolled back a few inches before the clutch engaged. At the same time the truck that was only inches away from his bumper punched the gas and hit the rear bumper of my sons car.

Lyndsey (my son) got out of his car shaking his head and as he began to speak to the guy from the truck, who had gotten out also, the truck dude began to yell at Lyndsey telling him that it was all his fault because he had rolled back. Lyndsey tried to explain that he had only rolled back a few inches and if is truck hadn’t been following so close that they would not have hit. Truck-dude didn’t take to that very well and continued yelling. He asked if there was any damage to Lyndsey’s car. Lyndsey pointed to the scratch on his bumper and the truck-dude yelled at him and said, “I didn’t do that, that was already there.” Lyndsey then pointed to the silver paint on the blue bumper of the truck. T-Dude said, “my bumper is to high I couldn’t have done that.” Lyndsey said, “no it’s not to high” and gesturing with his hand  compared the heights of the bumpers. T- dude was still arguing while traffic had began to zoom by them as they were standing in the middle of the interstate. Lyndsey finally said, “look if I call the cops it’s going to be your fault because, you were behind me and you hit my car. The person in the rear always gets the ticket. No cop after hearing both our stories would find me in fault. But you know what, there’s not that much damage and I don’t want to deal with this right now so I’ not going to call and I’m letting you off the hook.” Truck-Dude jumped back into his truck and sped off.

Well, sound familiar to anyone? Why is it that people just wont accept responsibility for there actions. As a defense mechanism they blame someone else for their actions even if it means lying. Truck-dude just didn’t want to face face facts, probably because he didn’t want to get a ticket. I know, who does?

I have found that owning up to your responsibility can take lot of “guts,” especially if your at fault. I believe God honors honesty. Plus, You don’t have to deal with guilt. When you treat people right than, people will treat you right. Even though Lyndsey may never see Truck-dude again, Truck-dude may or may not admit that he was wrong and that Lyndsey forgave him. No, he may not admit it but, he want forget it.

I guess everyone isn’t responsible or honest. Imagine that. Anyway thanks Lyndsey for showing good character  and “turning the other bumper!”