A Pothole and One's Departure from a Calm Mindset

Life is about our reaction to what gets thrown at us. For Joffre Remmi, a lesson of humility gets blown out of proportion when driving home from work one evening. After a brutal winter season, he had had enough of the dangerous roadways. He felt it was scary that the darkness of this particular evening disguised black ice, so Joffre drove extra carefully. Another risky roadway annoyance caused him to steer directly into the ditch.

Joffre had rolled down his driver's side window to prevent tired eyes from causing an incident. Before he could correct his steering, Joffre ran over an unsuspected pothole in his lane. He miscorrected the automobile after a tire blew on the right side of the vehicle. The man sat with a head injury in the depths of a ditch with smoke barreling from under his hood. Joffre had no idea what happened until he exited the car to investigate.

Another driver had pulled on the roadside and came to the rescue. It was Paul Destin who called for emergency services. When the ambulance and police officers arrived on the scene, Joffre had gathered himself together. He later filed a complaint with the city regarding the enormous hole in Main Street and planned to take care of the citations issued that evening. He was fortunate that his injuries were minor and no one else was involved in the accident.

During the court proceeding to pay any fines he may have incurred, the judge ruled that the City of Dayton needed to respond to damaged roads more quickly. Joffree offered his account of Ohio road workers as dependable and having the good sense to repair potholes when the time allowed. The judge applauded Joffree's attitude and commended him as a model citizen. The city picked up the expense of his car repairs. Joffre warned people that remaining calm helped him assess the situation, and not reacting irrationally benefited everyone involved.

Potholes are inevitable after long winters wreak havoc on roadways. We can all drive more carefully, and when something unfortunate happens, we must have common courtesy to alleviate the stress. The moral of this story comes down to how we present ourselves to problems. Our lives may rely heavily on such outcomes. Joffre had the good fortune to stand next to this monstrosity alive and well, but some incidents prove otherwise less fortunate.