Flipping People off in a Small Town
When you’re driving down the road in your small hometown and someone cuts you off, you probably won’t honk your horn. You might get frustrated for a moment. You might swear under your breath or make a grumpy face. But, it’s unlikely that you will make a big scene. And it’s highly unlikely that you flip them off.
Maybe you’re not a flip-the-bird type of person anyway so this topic doesn’t really seem relevant or make sense to you. But, if you ARE a flip-the-bird type of person, and you live in a small town, and you get cut off by someone, I’m betting that you won’t be flipping that bird.
Anyone reading this who has an occasional streak of road rage and has lived in a small town for any substantial amount of time knows what I’m talking about.
There are exceptions to this rule, of course. There are exceptions to most rules. There are the occasional VERY bad days that people have that might alter their usual road behavior. But in most instances, for most people, they’re just not gonna do it.
This isn’t the way things are in large cities, though. I know because I’ve lived half my life in each. When you drive in a big city and someone cuts somebody off, all manner of indignation surfaces. Why is that? Do people in cities just have more anger problems? Are people in small towns just friendlier people? My limited experience serving on a school board in rural Oklahoma suggests otherwise. City dwellers aren’t more rude than rural folk. But, then why the difference on the road?
Well, this is something that I have hypothesized throughout the nine years since we’ve moved back to our hometown, and my theory boils down to one basic principle:
That driver, the one who cut you off, might be someone you know.
Small town life in middle America, with its struggle-bus infrastructure, lack of diversity, and poor access to many things that make cities appear the shiniest, do have this one thing going for them. We usually know our neighbors. And that means that we know they are real life, actual humans, like us!
It only takes a small handful of times being rude to someone on the road and then discovering that it was your 3rd grade teacher (Lord, have mercy) or your best friend’s grandma (bless that lady) before you realize that people are just that: people. The intuitive accountability that this places on small town folks is why I believe people don’t get flipped off that often in small towns.
We all, no matter the size of our community, are given a constant opportunity to bestow a gift of humanity on each other. Sometimes I drive past people I know. Usually, I drive past people I don’t know. But the realization that they are all real life, actual humans, worthy of kindness, and an extra serving of patience can go a long freaking way.
Don’t believe anyone who says otherwise. And no matter the size of your town, be a good neighbor.