Being Mindful

We decided to take a leisurely Sunday drive through Cades Cove in Tennessee on a recent getaway. At least it was intended to be leisurely. As it turned out, the place was packed which still would have been okay if some folks had been mindful of others. You see, there are lots of scenic areas in Cades Cove from old churches and homesteads, to glorious views of fields and mountains, to wildlife. About the wildlife... There seemed to be a good number of deer out on Sunday so naturally, people wanted to get out and take a peek as well as snap a few photos. However, these folks either did not see or read the signs about using the pulloffs to allow others to pass by. We ended up bumper to bumper 50 cars deep at one point. When we got to the top of a hill, we saw the culprit…a little white Nissan in the middle of the road looking at some deer in a field. It really got me thinking about how someone could be so oblivious as to not pull over and let 50 cars by especially with pulloffs available. I also began thinking of my actions and how they may affect others. This isn’t some sort of “walk on eggshells around everyone” type of thing but rather the idea of being mindful of others as we go throughout our day. I can only imagine the domino effect like ripples in a pond that one driver caused on a Sunday afternoon by not being mindful.