While driving, excessive altruism can cause confusion and accidents. While I am not saying you should be an asshole on the road, you certainly should not, being overly generous can cause a breakdown in the general order and cause accidents.
A case in point.
About two weeks ago I was driving south on Main Avenue in Fallbrook. Four o'clock, busiest part of the day.
I was about a hundred feet from Trupianos Restaurant, approaching the Ammunition intersection. There were cars turning left on Ammunition and coming towards me from the opposite direction on Main. A woman in a white car was trying to cross the intersection from the east.
Now the proper thing would have been for the car going north on Main to maintain the flow of traffic and continue across the intersection.
But he decided to stop and let the guy make the left turn east, motioning with his hand. The abnormal altruism disturbed the normal driving flow and a standoff occurred, the guy going left not really sure why the guy was being nice?
This polite stalemate lasted for about three seconds. And then what happened?
The impatient driver going west, who happened to be an asian woman, bombed the intersection. "If these guys are going to play nice with each other, I am going." Even if it was perpendicular to a heavy flow of traffic at the worst possible time.
I had the right of way, of course and the misfortune of having to jam on my brakes and powerslide, just missing her, horn on eleven the whole way. She wouldn't even look in my direction, like nothing ever happened. I was so lucky not to be in a serious accident.
It was so stupid and all caused by somebody being overly nice and disturbing the normal aggressive but well ordered flow coupled with a brain dead idiot dwo.
Don't pass on the right or run red lights, don't be a jerk and don't be too nice. It ruins everything.
Love may make the world go round but selfishness and avarice keeps the highways flowing.
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