grateful & hopeful

Setting: 180 W about 30 minutes ago. A terrible 3-car crash, two vehicles pretty bad most likely with minor injured drivers, one flipped upside down.

Humanity, at its best, immediately swung into action. About a dozen men, some construction workers, some from their vehicles, showed up with tools from random trunks, using tire irons as crow bars trying to free the passenger(s) of the flipped vehicle.

Humanity, at its worst, in the truck directly behind me: Crazy man yelling, "F. F. F. The whole f-ing highway!?!?! You gotta take up the whole f-ing highway? Come on, m-f-ers!!" This continued for some time and I simply could not, could NOT, hold my tongue. I calmly (seriously, I was quite calm) walked to his vehicle and informed him, just in case he couldn't see what was happening up ahead, that there were passengers pinned and people were trying to help. Crazy man: "I KNOW, but the whole f-ing highway!?!?! Look at all these people!!! Everybody's gotta be a f-ing hero". I said, I mean I shouted, "YES! Thank goodness!" and walked back to my car. What I said didn't make an inkling of difference to crazy man. But it did to me, realizing my heart was substantially more grateful & hopeful this morning ... despite crazy man's lack of empathy/sympathy/compassion/human-ness.