Social Experiment #1 - Running with the Devil

By most accounts, I'm a pretty decent person. I think most people are really. When I get behind the wheel of a car though...I turn into the Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction) of the road. If you're going slower than me, faster than me, driving slow in the fast lane, turn out in front of me and make me slow down, etc, etc, you're an asshole, and I'm going to let you know about it in one way or another. In the movie, Jules knows he's a bad guy, but some things have happened in his life that makes him question the path he is on. Like Jules, I'm trying to fix some of those things in my life that I know aren't right.
I've devised a little social experiment that I'm trying on myself. I'm making the assumption that every person on the road is one of my best friends. Not withstanding the time I played bumper tag with my friend in a rental car (he was pretty pissed about it; he was convinced Avis was going to make him pay for the scratches and the paint), you don't normally tailgate your buddy on the freeway at 69 mph because you want to go 71. Nor do you swerve around him and cut him off because he pulled out in front of you and made you tap your brakes. You cut him some slack, maybe make a little excuse for him ("must have been changing the radio and didn't see me"), and have a little more patience.
I've found that it's actually pretty easy to trick myself into believing it also. "Oh yeah, that must be Mark's new Hyundai."
I'm really not sure where all the anger, aggression, and assumption of an adversarial relationship comes from (probably some really deeply repressed shit, the kind that puts yachts in psychiatrist's boat houses). The experiment seems to be working for me so far. I'm not so apt to crowd other cars and my initial assumption of "me getting from point A to point B in the least amount of time and with the least amount of interference" isn't as important as maintaining good relations with my imaginary buds.
Jules has this bible quote that he uses on people just before he shoots them. Stuff about him shepardding the weak through the valley of darkness and how he will "strike down with great vengence and furious anger" those who would mess with his flock. He admits that he never really thought about what it meant, just that it sounded like a cruel thing to say before he shot someone. He ponders his situation and the meaning of the saying. Later, when some people (Ringo and Yolanda) attempt to rob him, he decides to give them a break. I guess I never really thought about why I act like I do when I'm driving, but like Jules, "...I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd."

-HBH