Close call and thoughts thereafter
Driving my daughter to The Little Gym today I almost got into a car accident.
There was an accident a few cars ahead of me on the highway and it was slowing down traffic. I put on my brakes and realized that the car behind me wasn’t paying attention and was still coming a little too quick. She finally slammed on her brakes, narrowly avoiding hitting me. Then behind this car I saw two other cars swerve to the side of the highway behind her, narrowly avoiding her.
I noticed that the woman behind me was talking on the phone and the people behind her obviously didn’t have enough car lengths between their cars and those in front of them or else they wouldn’t have had to swerve like they did.
I’m sure these people were probably quite spooked that they almost got into an accident, but I bet until they do get into an accident they probably won’t drive any different than they were when this happened. The woman will probably continue to talk on her phone and those other two will likely drive way too close to the people in front of them.
You know the saying by Santayana, “Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them”? Well, I kind of think that for the majority of people, they have to repeat other’s mistakes or they never learn.
I think it’s sad that this is the case. However, I don’t think I’m any better than these people. I actually got into a pretty bad accident about a year ago all because I wasn’t cautious enough, even though I was often chastised by my husband about my driving. It took an accident for me to change how I drive.
I know that in general, I’m getting better at recognizing faults in myself and fixing them before something bad happens, but I do think I still am one of those people that has to make their own mistakes before it fully changes their behavior. I hadn’t thought about it much until now, but I think that might just be one of the most important areas of my life that I need to pay more attention to.
I think the whole “learning through screwing up” aspect of what you’re saying is a human trait… there may be some things we can have the insight to stop ourselves or change our behavior, but instinctively, I think as humans we simply learn through trial and error a lot of the time.
Not a great thing, but it’s understandable to an extent. It’s good that you can look and see irresponsibility, while also acknowledging it in yourself in some ways. Self-awareness is teh hawesome.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm