VIRUS: Bring out your best

Saturday, a cashier barked at me to step back because I was too close to the fellow in front of me. Later, a young couple were crossing the street at a crosswalk. As I slowed, the gentleman self-indulgently insisted on gesturing for me to slow down. To my shame, immediately after passing them I gunned the engine in revolt against strangers presuming to command me.

Even later, as I walked toward a line waiting to enter a store, a husband rushed to drop off his wife so she could take her place in front of everybody. On my way home, a truck drove right into my lane, cutting me off when I had right-of-way. The driver smiled a nasty smile as he did so.

What all of these people, myself not least among them, had in common is that we were not behaving as our best selves. We were each curt, presumptuous, rebellious, self-serving and thuggish. Add to these events my overall bearish mood with my wife, and her occasional lapses of perfect emotional control with me.

Most of us desperately feel we have lost control. Despite this fear, we must rise to this challenge and be worthy of our freedom. The more difficult the moment, the more important it becomes for us to each try to keep control of our emotions and behave as our best selves. This is especially true in the most seemingly insignificant of interactions. Most evil is petty, and we must not indulge in it.

RALPH K. GINORIO

Coeur d’Alene