ANGER BLINDS AND CLOUDS THE MIND

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By Harvey Tobkes

Funny things happen in daily life that we barely notice.

Yesterday, morning I left the apartment and went to  my car to drive to the beach. Oh damn! There was a large yellow warning sign pasted on my windshield saying I was parked illegally and my car would be towed. I went back to the apartment to get a razor blade to help scrape away the sticker sign and told my wife some idiot had stuck a warning sign on my windshield even though I was parked in the spot assigned to us.

My wife Anita, flushed with embarrassment and said…”OH MY GOD! Was that your car?” She confessed with the explanation…
“I came home from shopping at Publix Market with a ton of food at 5PM yesterday. And there was a car parked in my space. I went ballistic not noticing it was your Toyota Camry. I guess I was just blinded with anger. So I went to the Managment Office told them about the interloper and they gave me a warning sign which I slapped on your windhield.” Instantly we both realized what happened and burst into laughter. I admit my Toyota is nondescript, beige, and there are probably millions of them to be seen…but Anita was so mad, she couldn’t see straight.

To clarify further I park the Toyota in a different spot for which I pay a monthly fee. However, I went out to see my audiologist, came home, parked in Anita’s spot (which is conveniently close to the entrance) as I intended to come back down in just a few minutes. I went up to change what I was wearing for my beach walk and decided to take time to finish the last chapter in a book I had been reading. I got involved in other trivial stuff and never went back down at all to move my car. I assumed Anita would see my Toyota in her space and she would simply swap parking spaces for the night and use my spot. And that’s how it all came about.

The obvious lesson is….anger sometimes can fog our brains and cause us to act out in anger without thinking.


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