Parallel Parking

I was in a lazy mood. When I pulled into a parking spot at Megasupercorpget, I knew I had parked a bit crooked but shrugged it off. I got out of the car and saw that it was one of my better BAD parking jobs. The front tires were on the left side of the space and the back tires were just kissing the yellow lines on the right side. The car wasn't too close to the ones next door, though, so I went into the store and did my shopping. I may be finicky about certain things in my life, but perfect parking is not one of them.

When I came out of the store, I was surprised to see that the car to my left had driven away and been replaced by a new car that had parked perfectly parallel to mine. Their front tires were on the left side of the space, with the right tires just kissing the right line.

"That's amazing parallel parking," I thought humorously to myself. It got me thinking. If a third car arrived a little later, would it follow suit and ignore the nicely-painted, perpendicular yellow lines in favor of the trendy new angles?

More importantly, it was a reminder that all our lives are interconnected. We may not be responsible for the way others react to us, but it's good to remember that our actions are influential. Like a finger touching the still surface of a lake, we create ripples of influence, sometimes fading into the obscurity of eternity and other times becoming tsunamis that destroy others' serenity.

During this season of Thanksgiving, I want to express my gratitude for the goodness of life by creating ripples of joy and laughter ... and by laughing when the ill effects of other people's choices wash over me.