For me compassion means to empathize and attempt to understand another's pain or predicament but to be able to stay detached from their dramas.
Getting involved only aggravates the whole situation.
Now the important stuff. ;D About giving someone the finger on the highway.
Another one of my endless stories:
When I first moved to Asheville from Atlanta I have to learn to slow down, a lot. This is the only place I have ever lived where people drive below the speed limit on the highway and that speed limit is 50 mph in most places. So you could be putzing along at 40 mph and no one would think a thing about it.
Except an outsider! Who does something like this???
When I first got here I was used to driving about 80 mph on local streets so that tells you more about Atlanta and me than you probably want to know.
My daughter and I were in the car RUSHING to get from nowhere to somewhere on the local highway and got stuck behind this 147 year old geezer from who-knows-where and he was driving about 40 mph which I didn't know was normal, at the time.
Because I am from NY originally and have driving in most major cities in the US and half way around the world, I was EXTREMELY impatient, not to mention a great pain in the arse.
I was getting hotter and hotter under the colar and as we sped by the man I screamed at my kid, who was 14 at the time, to roll down her window and give him the finger.
Bad mommy!
So she did!
But...with a little twist.
She yanked her hand in the car and looked at me sheepishly and said "Mom, I wasn't sure which finger to use so I used this one [showing me her index or pointer finger].
I burst out laughing because she used the wrong finger. So from that day forward we have a new set of 'finger' rules.
1. Middle Finger=NY salute [the one known world wide for it's powerful effect]
2. The pinky finger = for those who don't deserve the best
3. The index or pointer finger = the Asheville Salute
::giggles::
WQ
P. S. so much for compassion
