Forgiveness

Today I had a very strange experience. I was out walking with my son, he was in the stroller and we were almost hit by a car. I crossed the road and went onto the sidewalk which is also someones driveway. There was a women backing out of her driveway, looking diligently out her back window and not seeing us. She kept coming and I had to run ahead with the stroller to get out of the way. I reacted by yelling at her, not the best thing I could have done but I was a little in shock. She saw me, stopped the car and got out.
"You almost hit us," I yelled, "You have to look where you're going!"
"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you, I'm so sorry," she said. The strange thing was she was genuinely upset. Usually when someone almost runs me down they don't even apologise, they just yell at me for being in their way. This woman burst into tears and kept repeating the same thing over and over. "Are you ok, Im so so sorry."

She came close to me and touched my arm, "Really are you ok?" she said. Then I hugged her, a perfect stranger, we just stood there in the driveway and hugged.
"I'm Janice, " she said, a little calmer. I now felt terrible for yelling at her.
As it turns out this was not the first time this had happened. The elevation of their driveway makes it almost impossible to see pedestrians, she explained. So much so that Janice and her husband have talked about moving because they feel it is only a matter of time before they really run someone over.
She looked down at my baby and put her hand on his head and on my arm and said, "God, thank you for saving these people today."
Then she looked at me and said, "Do you forgive me?"
Surprised, I said, "Of course I do. We're fine. Are you going to be ok?" 
"Yes, my husband is inside, I'll go in and sit down for a while."
I told her to go in and relax and drink an big glass of water, which, if you asked my husband, is exactly what I prescribe for just about any illness, pain or problem. She agreed and we parted ways.

For the rest of my walk I couldn't stop thinking about her, her eyes, how her arms shook. The look on her face when she asked if I forgave her. She really meant it; it wasn't just something to say. It made me think about our ability as human beings to forgive, to let go of our anger or hatred or even just mild frustration towards another person. It is such an important gift of compassion we can give to another person but also to ourselves.
The Buddha said, "Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." In this life we waste so much energy holding on to anger or ill feelings towards others. 
I feel I was given a gift today and a reminder of the mysterious way God appears in our lives. Thanks Janice, for almost running me over!

~ Namaste ~