Anonymous Parking Lot Bully

Here's a short story with an important message for your Thursday afternoon:

Title:  Pay the Opposite Forward

Characters:  Jaime, Wes and the anonymous Parking Lot Bully

Setting:  Lee Highway/N. Kirkwood Rd. intersection inside a Nissan Rogue

Plot:

Jaime's Tuesday began early at 6 a.m. with a refreshing yoga class.  This was a particularly rewarding class, as she was able to get into a new yoga pose that she'd been reaching for in the previous several weeks.  As she drove home, excited to share her accomplishment with Wes, the beautiful morning sun was peeking over the horizon.  This is going to be a good day! thought Jaime, with a happy smile on her face.  

Arriving home to a still sleeping Wes, Jaime went about her morning business of checking her favorite blog, practicing that pose again to be sure she really had it and preparing a few special packages to be mailed home.  

Fast forward an hour or so...

With the sun now higher in the sky, pouring down over Arlington, Jaime drove Wes to work in her Nissan Rogue, when the unthinkable happened.  As the car eased to a stop at the intersection of Lee Highway and N. Kirkwood Rd., Jaime's eyes were drawn to an unfamiliar object flapping underneath the driver side windshield wiper.  "Wes, there's something on my windshield!  What could it be?!" she cried out in panic.  The always cool, calm and collected Wes replied, "I'm not sure, why don't you get it?  The car is stopped at a red light, after all."  And so, with nervous hands, Jaime opened the car door slowly, reached around to the front windshield and retrieved what appeared to be a ticket.  And this is what she found: 

Folks, if your reaction was anything like Jaime's, it went a little something like this...

(I'll spare you the expletives that poor Wes had to suffer through for the remainder of our drive, and just say that I probably would have been happier had it actually been a parking ticket.)  

Back to the story...

Jaime wasn't quite sure why this incident, which was probably hopefully someone trying to be funny, bothered her so much, but it did.  Sure, life in Arlington could be trying, but she was usually able to laugh these things off.  This time, it was something more.  But what?

As she drove back home and ever so carefully parked her car back at the scene of the crime, it dawned on her - it was just plain MEAN!  Maybe she was parked like a "jacka$$;" honestly, she couldn't remember if she was perfectly parallel with the yellow lines or not, and figured she probably wasn't, but did that mean that she should be subjected to such bullying??  What if I had just heard some terrible news and wasn't focusing on parking like a perfect citizen?! she thought, blood boiling.  

Marching into Potomac Towers mad at the world, Jaime suddenly realized how much she was letting this coward mean bully get to her and thought that instead of allowing him/her to ruin her entire day, she should take the advice that she gives to her 1st graders when confronted with a bully: use an "I message" and let it teach you to be kind. 

And so, not having the actual Parking Lot Bully in front of her, she imagined a disgruntled Virginian, mustered up the most assertive voice she could and spoke out loud to the imaginary bully:  "I feel angry when you put mean notes on my car," and then spent the remainder of her day trying to be kind to others.