Righteous Wrongdoing/Deserved Comeuppance, Volume II

In continuation of the theme of big jerks being put in their places by unlikely heroes, I'd now like to take a moment to relate another series of events from my own personal life - a series which, in my opinion, effectively encapsulates my disposition, or at least the disposition to which I aspire.

I have no idea why I phrased that sentence like that.

*****

Sometimes, when you're stopped at a light, you notice that the lane beside you ends right after the intersection - blocked by parked cars or construction or whatever. And if there's somebody next to you in that lane, you take a glance to see if the guy is turning, or what, and if not you assume he'll be needing to merge over in front of or behind you.

What you *don't* do, if you're a decent, well-adjusted member of society, is start revving your engine and creeping forward, informing the other driver that he is NOT getting into your lane, dammit, because you're faster and badder and READY TO GO.

So I'm sitting there. At the light. No other cars around, except the parked one right in front of me and Racer Boy on my left. And I'm thinking: "Alright, what's he driving? Is it faster than the 4-cylinder automatic sedan I'm driving? And what has happened in this man's life to make him this way?"

Together, in a way, we wait for the light to change. It should be any time now, since there's no traffic coming from either direction.

As soon as the other light turns yellow, I'm gone.

My little four-banger shoots across the intersection before the other guy even knows what happened, and as I swerve over into his lane I see him in my rear-view mirror, visibly yelling and gesturing. He guns his engine and rides my bumper for the next block until my turn, steam pouring out from his ears.

How *dare* I cheat? How *dare* I start the race early and beat him across the intersection? I'll bet he was mad about that for a week.

Yeah, I ran the light. And I'm glad I did.

It was the right thing to do.