Road Rage and Self Awareness

This community member talks about road rage directed at her for reasons she cannot figure out, and answers questions about self awareness from a high school interviewer. 

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Thanks for listening!

Transcript

[00:00:00] Leah Velez: You're listening to Story Helix: intertwining stories past, present, and not yet imagined in Lane County, Oregon. What's up, earthlings? I'm Leah Velez, and I'll be your host. 

[00:00:25] The story we're about to hear was recorded by a young interviewer at a Eugene Alternative High School. They chose someone in their community to ask questions and sent in their recordings as part of a class project. Some of them are folks that worked in the school, some are community members they know, some are siblings, and some are friends. Let's open up our ear nuggets and give it a listen.

[00:00:50] Storyteller: I grew up in a pretty small community, so at home it was pretty typical for me to know everybody. The town was 2000 people. So you literally know everybody. My class was 20 people. The whole school was a hundred people, so pretty close-knit. Even when there was beef with each other, everybody kind of had their backs.

[00:01:10] I think this is kind of a silly, strong memory to have in Lane County, but I was driving one day and it was actually on the way back from work, and I had this guy just like honking at me and like screaming at me and I had no idea why. I didn't make a lane change or anything. I was in the same lane the whole time, going in the same flow track as everybody else.

[00:01:29] He would get in the other lane and like come up next to me and scream at me, and I just thought it was so weird and he kept doing that. Until I was able to get off the road and then he would cut me off and scream at me in his rear view mirror. 

[00:01:43] I wasn't gonna roll down my window. That didn't feel like a safe option. It was mostly visual. I could just see him yelling and like flailing his hands and pointing at me and all this other crap and like flipping me off obviously. So that was kind of just like a weird distinct memory. 

[00:01:59] I think they're all self-centered to a certain extent, but I guess I'm not entirely sure of that because I think that kind of comes to the perspective of other people and not really from your perspective, whether or not you're self-centered. Because I don't think it's ever clear how much of yourself you're seeing. 

[00:02:16] Relaxing and just like remembering that things are gonna be okay and that you're allowed to like feel bad and stuff. Sometimes trying to ground yourself mostly is what makes you feel complete. I mean, cuz you have to take care of yourself, right?

[00:02:29] I don't think that cliché is around for nothing. It's like you take care of yourself first before you can take care of others. While it's not always completely true, I think that it enables you to be better at helping others if you have also taken care of yourself.

[00:02:50] Leah Velez: Thanks for listening. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you've got your own Lane County story to tell, we'd love to hear it at storyhelix.wordcrafters.org.