A Coda
Posted on January 31, 2023 by Oracle
I’ve now successfully avoided fights for over two decades. How do I do it? I used to think it was a matter of maturity—fighting was something that younger, more excitable men did. But then I saw two 50-year-olds (on the same rec-league soccer team) punching each other until teeth flew. After that it was a road-raging old man on the news. He’d been mooned by a carload of teens, and sensibly decided to chase them 20 miles down a highway, waving a pistol out the window of his Chrysler.
It’s not just age—it’s ego. It’s taking ourselves too seriously. Sometimes, when I feel slighted, when someone cuts me off in traffic or shoves his way to the front of the checkout line, that 12-year-old with the rad bike wants to come out swinging. But I remind myself: life’s too short to go around pissed off all the time. I’ll be dead before long—and so will the jerk who cut me off.