Time to be kind

Magnolia Meadow is not a big town and I work for its largest employer.  It stands to reason that I would get to know, at least, visually, a lot of the people I live and travail with.

There's a man in my neighborhood who also works with me.  I don't know his name, but I know this about him:

He drives a popular 4wd vehicle and an old model American muscle car (only on nice days and weekends). 
He likes a sports team from the great state of Louisiana
He smokes cigars
He works on the facilities side of things and carries a hard hat to and from work

I've drawn the following conclusions about him, which may or may not be true, and are, either way, irrelevant:

He's single
He's gay

All of this I've absorbed just from watching him.  We have not crossed paths at work or in the neighborhood.  I'd be surprised if he knew as much about me, but who knows.

If one were to observe me going back and forth to work one could note the following:

I rarely arrive before 8
I bike
I run
I like the beach 
I carry a lot of crap around with me
I own a lot of different coats and I wear several pairs of the same brand of boot that likely no one has ever seen before b/c you can't buy them anywhere near here. 

If you were really paying attention, you'd also notice that:

I'm married with children
I'm forgetful
I spend an awful lot of time driving around in my car
I pack my lunch
I do not have perfect vision

Just the basic kind of stuff.

In any event, I find it fascinating to observe all of these things about all kinds of people who travel in my teeny tiny little circle.  It makes me feel like Harriet the Spy, and I LOVE, still, Harriet the Spy.  I certainly fancied myself her, at that age, and I still cling to a component of that.  Obviously.

As I was following this gentleman in to work today for the gajillionth time, I decided that I would follow each and every move he made, including lane changes, etc. to see if I could tail him straight into the garage.  All was going well, until he blew through a crosswalk cutting off a pedestrian in front of me.  At which point, I decided to play a different game.  I stopped for every pedestrian I could.  I stopped and let everyone out in traffic.  I stopped on the yellows, and did not jump the greens.  I took my time, spreading a little vehicular love as I went.

And, do you know what?  I STILL pulled into the garage right behind him!  Ha!

Therefore, empirically speaking, it does not take any more time out of the day to be kind.  And, conversely, you don't save any time being an asshole.

I knew this, but it's never bad to have a reminder.

Bon journee mes amis!!