Apr 19 2009
Take Responsibility For Your Actions
This year, our local high school, was the host of the State Odyssey of the Mind competition for Pennsylvania. Being a participate in his youth, my husband thought it would be a great family fun day to spend with our kids.
So, early yesterday morning we head out to be spectatuars at the Odyssey of the Mind competition. We parked in the farthest parking lot from the high school, thank goodness the local transit was proving bus shuttle for those parking lots, or we would have missed half of the day’s competitions in walking there.
But, to get to today’s point.
We parked beside a blue car. The woman in the blue car looked over at us as we situated our van. Once we were parked, I heard a big thud on the passenger side. My husband was already out of our vehicle and I was politely waiting for the lady to get out of her car first before I opened my door. My husband watched the woman throw open her car door and hit our vehicle, on my side. She got out, slammed her door shut, and walked away. All the while my husband is talking to the woman, loud enough half the parking lot heard her, and she walked away towards the shuttle.
I got out, looked at the sliding door of our van, and looked at my husband, “She just hit our van!”
My husband said, “She knows she did it.”
There was a dent in the passanger sliding door of my van and a smear of blue paint where her car door hit. When the lady’s husband came back to the car, he’d obviously forgotten something, my husband and I spoke to him again. He looked at us in shock and called and got wife to come back.
First, let me point out, the dent was fairly small and the so was the smear, but when my husband informed her, she hit our vehicle with her door, she denied it. I can picture how I must have looked staring at the woman, eyebrows rose and totally in disbelief.
My husband said to her, “I stood here and watched you do it.”
I don’t think she even looked to check out our vehicle, just got out her insurance info as requested, more annoyed at thought of missing the shuttle then the thought of damaging our van.
Today, take responsibility for your actions.
If the woman in the parking lot would have simply acknowledged her action and taken responsibility by apologizing to us, I doubt my husband would have asked for her insurance information. But, because her actions seemed intentional, and she purposely ignored my husbands efforts to speak with her, we felt compelled to call this woman on her action and hold her responsible, as God calls us to be accountable to each other.
What actions have you taken, and have you been responsible? Or do you know someone, like this woman, who needs to be reminded of the responsibilities we hold to each other?
