Bad Stuff Happens

Bad stuff happens.  Even to good people.  You can do everything right, but sometimes things go wrong.  And you have to find a way to move on, to move past it, and put things on track again.

I know that I'm mad as hell at the man who hit me.  Not because of the accident, but because he chose to drive without insurance even though it's the law.  And I also know that holding on to the mad, to the hurt, will only hurt me.  He doesn't know; and probably doesn't care.

So I was Googling around and found a few things to comment on:   "...try to remind yourself that hanging on to these negative emotions only harms you in the end. No amount of anger will undo what happened. Acknowledge your feelings. Then, look within for the compassion to forgive those who harmed you and the strength to let go."   That's good advice in most situations.  The anger we're feeling doesn't have a positive effect.   Except in one instance:  when I feel a bit of angry rise up, I know I have to get rid of it, so I usually do that in a productive way.   If I'm cleaning my house like a madwoman, hellbent on spit 'n shine surfaces, my kids learned to stay away for a bit!  I've felt myself doing that at work, and it can be a good thing, focusing the anger on getting things accomplished.  I usually feel better afterward; the physicality of it helps the mad, and the end result of a job accomplished really puts a positive spin on things for me :)

Forgiving and forgetting are important parts of moving past bad experiences as well.  I'm not sure I'm ready for this step just yet, but soon.  Accidents happen, they're a part of life.  Unfortunately, his choice of driving without insurance will have quite an impact on my life.  I did the responsible thing, I paid my insurance premiums on time, every month, year after year.  And some Yahoo chooses not to;  I'm hoping the law throws the book at him.  But in my experience, I'm betting the cost of his ticket is less than I've paid for my insurance premiums for a year.

Perhaps it's time to consider tougher laws.   Shouldn't the cost of breaking this particular law be at least equal to a year's worth of insurance payments??   Stiffer penalties for law breakers!   At the very least, the first offense fine should be equal to a year's worth of insurance payments.  As it is, even though I have insurance, that I followed all the laws, it's going to cost me over $3000 by the time this is finished.   And I still have to pay my insurance premiums every month!