Do Not Stake Your Life on Trifles
This is a story from more than 30 years ago, when I was working as a crime reporter.
One day, I received a tip letter from a Korean American reader, enclosing a photograph of a car along with a written account. The story was as follows:
While driving, another vehicle suddenly cut him off. He slammed on the brakes—hard enough to screech—and narrowly avoided a collision.
At the next traffic light, the car came to a stop. Overcome with anger, he got out, knocked on the driver’s window, and, once it opened, attempted to grab the driver by the collar. In response, the driver threw a punch directly at his face.
In that brief moment of hesitation, the light turned green and the car sped away. He got back into his vehicle and pursued it, but ultimately lost sight of it. In his letter, he requested that we publish the vehicle’s information so he could press assault charges.
It was a report so astonishing that it left me momentarily speechless.
Had the confrontation escalated further, both parties might have been charged with mutual assault. In a country like the United States, where firearms are readily accessible, it could easily have turned into a life-threatening situation. Over something so trivial, a life could have been irreparably damaged.
Not long ago, a minor verbal dispute between customers at a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles escalated into a violent knife attack, leaving four people seriously injured.
Time and again, we find ourselves angered and troubled by matters of little consequence—incidents that, within days, fade from memory. Yet we allow them to harm our health and consume our precious time.
Life is short. It should not be squandered—or ruined—over trifles.
— From Reporter's Notes by Ki Jun Kwon
Reflection of the Day
★ We must never commit the mistake of wagering our lives on trivial matters.
Much of what provokes our anger and anxiety may, in truth, be insignificant. ★
While driving, another vehicle suddenly cut him off. He slammed on the brakes—hard enough to screech—and narrowly avoided a collision.
At the next traffic light, the car came to a stop. Overcome with anger, he got out, knocked on the driver’s window, and, once it opened, attempted to grab the driver by the collar. In response, the driver threw a punch directly at his face.
In that brief moment of hesitation, the light turned green and the car sped away. He got back into his vehicle and pursued it, but ultimately lost sight of it. In his letter, he requested that we publish the vehicle’s information so he could press assault charges.
It was a report so astonishing that it left me momentarily speechless.
Had the confrontation escalated further, both parties might have been charged with mutual assault. In a country like the United States, where firearms are readily accessible, it could easily have turned into a life-threatening situation. Over something so trivial, a life could have been irreparably damaged.
Not long ago, a minor verbal dispute between customers at a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles escalated into a violent knife attack, leaving four people seriously injured.
Time and again, we find ourselves angered and troubled by matters of little consequence—incidents that, within days, fade from memory. Yet we allow them to harm our health and consume our precious time.
Life is short. It should not be squandered—or ruined—over trifles.
— From Reporter's Notes by Ki Jun Kwon
Reflection of the Day
★ We must never commit the mistake of wagering our lives on trivial matters.
Much of what provokes our anger and anxiety may, in truth, be insignificant. ★
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