Germans and their cars

I´ve made an observation lately. Stephan allows me to drive over the weekends, so I really take the opportunity to practise my left-hand driving. Since we use a manual car, I had to get used to the changing of the gears and having to start the car on half-clutch when I´m on slopes - something that I really dread, but that I´m getting better in.

Today though, I drove for about an hour, since we had to drop off a letter at one of our youth´s place- which was at Eberdingen, about 30 mins away from where we stay. On my way there, I kept noticing that drivers kept overtaking me- even though I was driving at the speed limit - aka, any faster and I would be exceeding the speed limit. Plus, in general, drivers are simply so impatient! I was waiting to turn left at a junction and there was another car waiting to turn into my lane. Hence, this driver - a female one, had to wait for me to turn before she could turn. I waited for an oncoming car to pass by before attempting to turn left and I didn´t accelerate like crazy while turning - there´s no need for that anyway. What happened? This woman driver lifted her hands and waved angrily - a gesture indicating "What the heck do you think you are doing" and she stared at me through the car window. I reacted of course, feeling quite pissed off at her impatience and excess "openness about her anger" and I stared at her through the window too and raised my hands, to indicate that I wasn´t too pleased at her either. I mean, what the heck? I had the right of way and if she had to wait, so wait! I was waiting for the car to pass by and I didn´t want to get into an accident because of some impatient prick!

Anyways, Stephan was like "forget about it, nothing to get angry about" and I was like "What the heck!" Feeling quite pissed off and sorry for myself. Then I started on my tirade of "Man, these germans and their cars. Who do they think are.... kinna thing"...... Sometimes though, I forget that my husband is german and naturally, he´d feel personally affected when I make these type of general, thoughtless statements. I mean, I doubt that drivers in Singapore are much different either, but somehow when I´m driving in a foreign land, it just feels like every bad experience I have, I tend to generalise to the entire population. Had a discussion with Stephan later when we were both more cool-headed and I was no longer fuming over this driving incident. We both agreed that in general, Germans are simply proud of their cars and their driving - this translates to be intolerant of people who don´t seem to drive as good as they think a driver should drive. It makes sense though, since germans are the inventors of cars and Stephan did have a good point that Michael Schumahe is a german and he basically rules the world of Formula 1. For myself, I need to really ask God to change my heart and to be more gracious when I´m driving. I think under normal circumstances, when I have time to think and reflect on what people say, I can be more rational and analyze my reactions. However, when I´m driving and I´m focussing on the road, I think that´s when all my horns come out. Dear God, please help me to control my anger when I´m driving and to choose to be forgiving and loving to those who honk me and show their hands at me. In Jesus Name, Amen.