(aka be careful who you're nice to, kiddies !!!!)
whilst stuck waiting in an understaffed public office recently, i read a "spiritual" magazine that suggested performing "random acts of kindness" as a way to help bring about "inner peace"
i have been somewhat short on inner peace lately, so i figured i would give it a go
acting on the advice of said magazine, the next time that i found myself driving on a "tollway", i paid the toll for the car behind, as well as my own, as i passed through the tollgate. the man collecting the tolls said i was a "very thoughtful lady" !!!!. then he wished me "a very happy day" and gave me a huge cheesy smile as i drove off !!!!
(it became obvious that the magazine was onto something, here)
i was chuffed !. it felt absolutely great and i resolved immediately to do so again when i was next able. this resolve lasted until the vehicle whose toll i had paid caught up to me at the next traffic lights, containing a man i guessed to be in his late-sixties. he gave me a big fatherly wave, which i returned. he then mouthed "thankyou" at me as the light changed and i began to drive away
still happy, i continued on my smiling way until i realised that ten minutes and several turns had passed, and the guy was still behind me
right behind me
when he realised he had caught my eye, he began motioning in a leery way for me to "pull over" to the side of the road
when i appeared not to get his point, he kept doing it !!!!
it was all kind of yucky and clearly no longer fatherly !!!!
ewwwww !
fortunately for me, my would-be suitor realised his mistake quite quickly and was not persistent, so my virtue remained intact. (this, in fact, proved reassuringly easy hehe) ... but i learned an old lesson in a new way that day:
no matter what you do, no matter how innocent or well-meaning you are, despite all good intentions and purity of motivation ... there will always be someone who takes you the wrong way ...
... or wants to 