Headlights

When I was younger, I was the kind of person who would flash his headlights at people driving at night without their headlights turned on. I was also the kind of person who would turn off people's headlights in parking lots if I saw that their car doors were unlocked. I figured I was doing those people a favor, saving some from a traffic ticket and others from a dead battery.

I don't do those things anymore. Now when I see people driving without headlights or forgetting to turn them off, I shake my head and move on. I mind my own business. It's not that I don't care. It's that my way of looking at things has changed. Too many times, people have flashed their headlights back at me in anger, or I have set off a car alarm. The satisfaction of having helped someone in some small way now seems less valuable to me than seeing firsthand that actions have consequences. Life's experiences have provided me with many good lessons, and I trust that they will do the same for others.