Looking back, this is a story I’m not particularly proud of, but it has stayed with me over the years.
Growing up in the Bronx, there were moments where frustration got the better of us, and this was one of them. A group of us were out riding bikes when a driver came through moving too fast, nearly struck some of us, leaned on the horn, shouted, and then sped off. We were angry, and in that anger, we made a poor choice.
We followed the car. Back then, spark plugs were not hard to come across on the street, and we picked one up along the way. The porcelain from a broken spark plug, it turns out, can shatter glass with surprisingly little effort. There happened to be four of us and four windows on that car. We waited until the driver had stepped away, counted down, and each took a window. The sound was jarring, people nearby reacted with visible shock, and we rode off as fast as we could. Since we were not from that neighborhood, the chances of anyone connecting it back to us were slim.
At the end of the day, it was property damage and nothing more flattering than that. Looking back with clearer eyes, two wrongs have never made a right. No matter how reckless that driver had been, our response was not justified. The better move would have been to write down the plate number and report the dangerous driving to someone with the authority to actually handle it. Though let’s be honest here, they probably wouldn’t even follow up on that complaint.
The lesson that stayed with me is straightforward. Frustration, even when it feels completely valid, is not a reason to abandon good judgment. Better options are almost always available, and in those moments, choosing them is what actually matters.
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