WASPs and Honkers

The other night my wife and I went out to enjoy some bottomless pasta bowl at the Olive Garden (my favorite, you ask?: Creamy Parmesan Florentine on Penne). Across from us sat a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant...ok, i'm just assuming Protestant) family of four. Here's how the dinner played out.

Kendra first noticed that "dad" was very cranky about the little birthday ditty that the Olive Garden staff did a couple times. Ok...it was a little annoying. But later, the manager came around and asked how everything was, and this family seriously ate her alive. They complained about absolutely everything, in a very rude and insulting way. Now I was a waiter for a couple years, and this kind of rant was usually an attempt to get out of the bill. However, I didn't think that was what this family was after...

Being a little annoyed about having to listen to these buzzing WASPs, I began wondering aloud (quite loudly) about whether this rant was in fact misplaced anger due to a failing marriage and a dysfunctional family. I don't think they heard me, but on cue a couple minutes later the mother was crying. There's no way the food was that bad :)

Now maybe I'm just picking on WASPs because of my tendancy to generalize and stereotype...I don't know. But what I do know is that I really enjoy being malicious to people that are not self-aware. If you don't have the capacity to recognize and the courage to deal with your emotional problems, then you are a hazard to society and should try to stay out of public (yes, I'm also talking to you Kenye).

Another example of un-self-awareness: This morning I'm driving to work and I see a car broken down in the middle of the road. It's a young girl who is trying to "Flinstone" her car out of the way (no one has helped her yet). So I do a U-turn and pull up behind her, put my hazards on, and ask her if she wants a push. Not two seconds later a woman in her early thirties pulls up behind my car and lays on her horn.

After nearly four seconds of horn blasting, I turned around and without hesitation gave her a middle finger rebuke. And here's the funny thing: she immediately let off the horn and looked almost scared, shocked, and a little shameful. Did she realize that her all-powerful horn couldn't prevent me from kicking her obnoxious little ass? Or did she realize that her horn-blowing wasn't going to help her get along her way any faster? Or did she realize that she was honking at the good samaratin that she read about in church just two days ago? I can only guess what was going through her head, but all three originate from a lack of self-awareness.

After we were out of the way, the girl asked me if I worked at Trinity (I was wearing Trinity gear and a Trinity nametag). I said yes, and then immediately thought about the bird I threw without hesitation in a moment lacking of (spiritual) self-awareness (I just touche`d myself). She said she had a friend that went there, and thanked me for helping.

I got in my car and thought about the message I just gave to that little girl. Was it one of hypocrisy? Probably a little bit, and I feel bad for that. But in the long term, I do think that my actions (helping her out) will speak louder than my words (the finger--yes, I know the finger is an action, but it's really conveying words...). Maybe I'm just rationalizing my temper, but I've read about some pretty harsh tongue lashings that Jesus gave to the honkers of His day. I know the anger I felt toward the lady was justified--now I just need to work on expressing it in a more Holy way.