A Soft Answer

Each morning I get on my computer a saying that is inspirational.  The one this morning is a saying that has had a huge impact on me. I know I have shared part of this before.
I was fairly new to Brisbane.  I had come from a provincial town where “rush hour” was misnamed.  It really should have been called “rush five minutes.”  A visit to Brisbane was like visiting the biggest city in the world.  I remember sitting in a café on such a visit, and feeling so cool mixing with all the anonymous people.
I was working here and had to make a delivery in a hurry.  This was the days before mobile phones and gps’s.  The best way to find something was to use a (gasp) physical map.  I had to then remember the way, or pull over and refer to the map again.
The trouble for me was, not only was I new, and had never been where I was going, but it was during a strike, and all the traffic lights were out.  Then when I went to get a vehicle to transport me, there were only four wheel drives available.  These were not like they are today.  I felt like I was in the bush, without being in the bush.  Driving it was an adventure in itself.
Anyway I got where I had to go, and was on my way back, when this saying came to life for me.  I cut off a taxi driver when three lanes became two.  He over took me and waited for me, and then called out something I still, all these decades later, do not know the answer to.  He called out “what sort of a moron are you!?”  Fair dinkum, was I a little bit of one, or was I a major one?  I guess in that situation I was a major one, but I am unsure to this day.
(I know I was a major one, when I was offered and used a vehicle to go to a campus, and unbeknown to me it was really really light on, on petrol.  In fact, it was so light on, it ran out on a major road.  I needed to cross a busy road and find a petrol station.  Fortunately for me, there was one not far from where I was.  I never knew it existed.  It was in the back streets.  When I was putting petrol in my tank, I had comments hurled at me that were not supposed to make me feel better.  What made it worse was that, when told, the person who loaned me to car did not rend their garments and throw dust in the air.)
My only response to the taxi driver was an apology and telling him I was new.  He drove off in a huff, but thankfully that is as far as it went.
It made me think at the time, and still does to this day, that if I had answered differently it would have gotten his back up, and the situation most likely would have escalated, with a bad outcome for me. (I have had two physical fights in my life and lost them both.  I am hoping now that my black belt in origami will help).
The upshot was, I got there and back again (not with Bilbo Baggins), and although I would rather not have experienced it, it was a really valuable lesson for me.