This morning, on my drive to work during rush hour in Austin, Texas, I saw the male driver of a large, white Ford Expedition roll down his window, throw his white business shirt-clad arm out and forcefully give the finger to a driver of a gray Honda Accord with an “Ethiopia” flag bumper sticker on it. The driver of the Expedition (I’ll call him Mr. Expedition) accelerated and raced past the Honda to its right, and turned right into a corporate business center. I guess that’s where he works.

The driver of the Honda (I’ll call him Mr. Honda) continued driving and ultimately ended up going where I was going. I saw a younger man, possibly late 20’s to early 30’s exit the Honda. We both entered our office building at the same time. He held the door for me. I said “thanks” but nothing else.

I’m not sure what precipitated the events leading up to Mr. Expedition flipping the bird. It didn’t seem like Mr. Honda had been guilty of any major infraction. Maybe Mr. Honda cut off Mr. Expedition. Maybe Mr. Honda was blocking Mr. Expedition as he was trying to make a right turn. Maybe Mr. Honda was just a driver of a Honda with an Ethiopia sticker.

Maybe Mr. Expedition is just an impatient asshole.

I’m going to go with that last one.

Finger (gesture) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.