Rainbow tires

When you openly, radically trust people, they not only take care of you, they become your allies, your family.

Sometimes people will prove themselves untrustworthy.
When that happens, the correct response is not:
Fuck! I knew I couldn’t trust anybody!

The correct response is:
Some people just suck.
Moving right along.
–Amanda Palmer/The Art of Asking

Driving home from Eugene in the rain, there was a brief respite from the downpour just North of Salem.

During the sunbreak, I drove past a semi truck and long trailer that was spewing water from all 800 of its tires. Normally, I’d have been a little annoyed at being blinded by the spray.

Not in this case.

In this case, I enjoyed it because each of the spray trails coming from each set of tires was carrying a little miracle–a rainbow trailing behind it. There must have been half a dozen little rainbows following that truck. It was amazing.

Beauty can be found in the most unexpected places. You see it. You take it in. You file it away and smile.

Then you keep moving right along, just like you do with dishonesty, ugliness or unkindness.

I got a dose of that when I got home later that day. Someone very important to me said I make them sick. That is never something you want to hear. It’s not true, helpful, inspiring, necessary or kind. Well. I guess it might have been true. I was being whiny and annoying. I admittedly deserved a snide response if they were not able to see past my annoying remark and understand the feelings that were behind it. Something compassionate might have been called for. Some empathy, maybe. I don’t know.

In the long run that unkind moment may help me get to a place with them where I can move on, because if nothing else, someone who would say something like that to me or anyone else is probably not the sort of kind or caring person I am used to having around. Or want to have around.

So I’ll try to remember that most of my days are spent with people who love me. People who are kind to me. I’ll try to remember the rainbow tires and not the people who are mean.

And I’ll keep moving right along.

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