Driving to treatments

The Proton Therapy Institute is on the Shands Hospital campus, and all of these medical facilities are part of the University of Florida Medical Center in downtown Jacksonville. We are driving 30 miles one way each day for my treatment, but traffic is nothing like Atlanta traffic, so it does not take us long to get there.

I am doing a lot more driving here in Florida. Like everywhere, the road is full of aggressive drivers. I don’t know if it is the male macho thing or is it just me, but I am having challenges not reacting aggressively. It is so natural to think about what has been done to me rather than think positive thoughts about the offending driver. Did I just write that?! How do I have positive thoughts about a guy who cuts in front of me and makes me put on my brakes? That’s heavy lifting Larry boy.  

I don’t know if I am going to fix that, but I have decided long ago not to be angry. That’s right—we don’t just “get” angry, we choose to be angry. I have found that when someone makes me mad, I quickly think this: I am choosing not to be angry. I won’t lie and say it works all the time, but it does help me a lot.

I like to think that I regularly practice servant leadership:  I work hard not to lead by position, but by influence; I try to let others go first; I hold the door open for people; I speak kind words to strangers; I try not to get the best seats in meetings; and on and on.

But all this driving has made me realize that I haven’t really thought about practicing servant leadership in traffic. I am convicted. Here are some ways that I am going to serve others while I drive: don’t tailgate, let others go first (don’t be in such a rush so I can be first), and smile whenever someone gets mad at you or when you get mad at them.

Now this is another challenge: when we do good, we want others to know about it, right? That road rage guy in the big pickup is not going to know if smile when I let him cut me off. Truett Cathy has given me a new appreciation for the Golden Rule. He loves to give rulers to school children who come to visit his office. The ruler is inexpensive, but the lesson Truett gives them is invaluable: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Amen!