Car Accidents and Kindness
A week ago, our family went out to dinner. My younger son wasn’t going to be able to join us at first but as soon as we sat down at the table, he called. “Mom, can I still come?” The answer was yes and I told him that he could take his brother’s car to meet us out.
20 mins later, he walks into the restaurant and he is shaking. He explains that as he was trying to park he hit another car, damaging both. I tried to calm him down and he, his brother and I walk (maybe jog) outside to see how bad it is.
It could’ve been better, it could’ve been worse. As we got closer to the car, Nick keeps apologizing to Christopher for what he did. Christopher is upset but manages to keep his cool as he looks over the fender scratches and dings. He then turns to Nick and says, “Nick, give me a hug. It is OK, it is just a car.”
Moments like this make your momma-heart melt. After they hug, I reiterate to Nick that it will be OK, no one was hurt and we will be able to have the car fixed. We now look at the other car. About the same amount of damage was done, so we find a piece of paper and leave a note with my phone number on it and a sincere apology/promise to take care of the car. Life lesson on doing the right thing.
We went home and I wonder what this phone call will look like? How mad will the other person be when they call? You just never know and I know I feel a little anxious about it.
Almost a week later, my phone rings. A few moments into the conversation and I realize who it is. I will tell you, he COULDN’T have been nicer. He thanked us for leaving a note, saying many people wouldn’t have. He said things happen and said however we wanted to deal with taking care of it (through insurance or just paying cash), was fine with him.
I thanked him a number of times for his kindness.
Kindness. It doesn’t take much. My older son could have just gone off on his younger brother for his mistake. The other driver could have gone off on me for the accident and for my son damaging his car.
This entire incident will always be a learning experience for Nick, you need to be more careful when using other people’s car and don’t know how that car handles in tight spaces. It is also a testament to how your reactions affect others. The entire night could have easily been ruined by anger. Instead, a family had a wonderful dinner out asking funny “get to know you” questions that we found on the internet.
Both cars will get fixed, because, they are just cars. What a great life perspective.