"Be Slow to Anger"

The other day I was driving through Baldwin park waiting to parallel park, when I saw this man taking forever to parallel park (it's Orlando, most people take over an hour to do that). Not only was he blocking the road, he was also parking facing the wrong way. Normally I have a really bad case of road rage, and I even when I want to be nice about it, I can make a nasty sarcastic remark. This time, I did nothing, I just waited for him to take his sweet time and then parked a couple of spots ahead of him. I got off and went to Subway (avocado's back !!!) and while ordering my sub, the driver that was trying to park earlier was right behind me. He was wearing his Coast Guard uniform. Then he started talking to me. He said that while on duty he had to undergo surgery several times due to blood clots in his leg, which made it painful for him to drive and walk. He then started talking about his work in the line of duty and it was pretty heart warming.

If you're not familiar what the Coast Guard does, watch The Guardian, I cannot find a better example.

When we were done, I shook his hand and thank him for his service to this country. He then thanked me. He told me "most people just burst in anger when im struggling while driving or walking, thank you for being patient and also for listening to me".

I felt bad at first because my first instinct would have been to say something to him or gesture at him. I felt relieved that I was able to act different towards him, and felt especially relieved after hearing his story. Do we really have to listen to everyone's story so that we act different towards them?