It was quite early in the morning, with relatively fewer cars on the road. It was not quite sunshiny yet, but the skies weren’t gloomy either. Just the perfect cool weather for the season.

The silver car raced past houses and small establishments in the familiar area she calls her neighborhood. The driver knew she was making good time that day and she was quite pleased since she wanted to get things going. Work was very important, and she had a lot to do.

She signaled to turn a far right, going onto the flyover going to C5. In a split second right before she turned the wheel and stepped on the gas pedal a lshe realized there was a car a mere couple of inches from her right side view mirror. And she knew for certain she was going to hit it had she not reacted to stepped on the brakes. The moment was just unnerving, knowing what could have happened.

The driver of the silver car breathed a big sigh of relief and muttered something inaudible to herself as she recovered to turn the wheel in another direction. The driver of the other car, however, was furious about what would have happened. He rolled down his window and screamed profanities at the other driver. He even stuck out his hand and gave her the finger.

What a moron, the girl driver thought. Nothing happened back there, right? I didn’t hit his car so why is he so mad? she thought.

But the mad driver continued to harass her. He tailgated the silver car and gave her the dirty finger 2 more times as she stared at her rear view mirror in disbelief. The temper on that other guy is just not coming down anytime soon. So the girl driver smiled her sweetest smile and waved back at the road raging testosterone behind the wheel. And she laughed all the way to the office.

—

One thing I learned about this experience is that I realized how nasty it is (and unpretty!) to go on a rampage on the road at things that are not even as worse as government corruption. It would’ve made sense for that guy to be mad at me had I scraped his car, but I’m such a good driver that I didn’t.

Hindi pala maganda yon, ang pangit pala tingnan. More than anything, that was such an eye-opening experience, for someone like me who has learned to be less of a human when driving. I’ve been trying to reform my ways, but it’s so hard! Anyone who has the “privilege” to drive on the streets of Manila would understand what I mean.

But after this, some things are going to change. So to that ugly guy driving an old forest green Nissan Exalta with plate number WJC-454, thank you. You just showed me what ugly driving is. Literally and figuratively. You should get your license suspended. It’s not people like me who make near-mistakes that shouldn’t be on the road. It’s people like you who cannot control their temper and harass other people. Hope you get what you deserve.