ROAD RAGE & A FAILED CULTURE

#1. As far back as ancient Rome, there was probably some form of road rage. Remember Ben Hur? Now that was road rage. Imagine two gladiators in chariots with both wanting to be in front of the other.

#2. With two chariots going in different directions or fighting for position, this is a recipe for road rage. I can see it now: Two guys two muscular men in armour and carrying swords just might rage. With that, ancient Romans were still more courteous than Americans are today. The Romans would likely touch swords, bow to one another, and work it out peacefully. Usually! Americans could just as soon shoot, stab, or beat someone to death.

#3. In the days of the wild-west, carriages got in each other's way, which might have been cause for a little road rage. Then 'road rage' was almost always verbal. One of the parties would back his horses up enough to let the other guy and that was pretty much it.

#4. It was in the 1950's when car ownership became commonplace to the middle-class that today's road rage was born. But even in the 50's, manners and courtesy almost always prevailed. Traffic incidents sometimes led to a little yelling, rarely to scuffles, but nobody got shot, stabbed, or beaten to death.

#5. Today's things are different. Your culture has fallen far in just the last 60 years or so. Today's society is largely immoral, narcissistic, and violent. Americans aren't what they used to be. You're not near the levels of courtesy as your great grand parents, probably your grandparents, and that's pretty well that.

#6. Today, in traffic, you cut others off, tailgate, flip each other off, lean on your horn, and fight over a parking space. You whine and bitch when anyone refuses to bow down to you. You are self-appointed "Kings & Queens" of the road. You'll leave your car in the middle of traffic, with or without weapons, and "go off" on others.

#7. You've become a crop of "Karens & Kevins" and that always sucks!

#8. I was on top of this sort of road rage earlier this month. I pulled into traffic on a busy road. I slipped into the patter with little trouble. I was about a hundred yards ahead of the next car; no problem. The next guy, driving an SUV, pulled in behind me with a good 50 feet or more between him and oncoming traffic.

#9. Traffic caught up to him, especially in the case of this shit-head in a sports car. There was at least 50 feet distance between him and the guy in the SUV. That's when this all got started.

#10. Shit-head pulled right up on SUV's rear bumper. This "Kevin" aka "Shit-head" was not a happy camper. With no more room between his front bumper and the SUV's rear bumper he upped the game and started leaning on his horn. This shit-head was "winding up for the pitch". C'mon, is it really that important to get somewhere 10 seconds later? Is it a fatal moment of embarrassment to let someone pull in ahead of you?

#11. We were now sitting on a fresh red light. Shit-head jumped out of his car and ran up alongside the SUV. He started pounding his fists on the window of the SUV. Shit-head wanted a fight, and the more he pounded on the window the more he got 'wound up'.

#12. The light was now green. My door was locked. SUV's door was locked. We drove on leaving this sweaty shit-head panting and yelling something I couldn't really understand. Well, he ran back to his car, now hundreds of feet away from the SUV he wanted to bully.

#13. Shit-head barely made it through the intersection when a couple our 'boys-in-blue' pulled him over. In my rear view mirror I could see him getting out of the car and a policeman shaking his finger at the shit-head. I'm sure there was at least one ticket issued. Obviously, neither SUV nor I waited around but just kept on driving.

#14. "If you can't control your emotions, you've got no business being on the road." The underlying problem is obvious to an outsider looking in. You have grown lazy and self-centered. You have no values or ingrained morals. You don't go to church. You get married before shacking up and producing offspring.

#15. You don't give the other guy the benefit of the doubt. You hit your wives and girlfriends a lot more than dirt-bags like you used to. You don't read. You probably can't read.

YOU SUCK!