05/21/2026
Today when I was picking up my child, I parked on the left side of the street. I wasn’t parked in a red zone, I had my hazard lights on, and traffic could still pass normally.
Then I ran into a white male “Karen” in front of me who was honking at me while blocking the school crosswalk himself. To make things worse, the school crossing guard holding the stop sign led my child across to the other side of the street, which forced me to stop in the middle of the road and affect traffic just so my child could get into the car.
In reality, many Americans will briefly park facing the wrong direction just for convenience when getting out of the car, but:
“A lot of people do it” does not mean it’s legal.
Yesterday, I specifically went to Costco and spent $40 on cookies to donate to the teachers. We were also planning to spend the next three months creating a mascot costume like this to donate to the school.
But after today’s terrible experience, I won't donate it again.
I understand that I parked in the wrong spot. However, the school staff should not have escalated the situation or taken sides, especially since the other driver was also violating the law by blocking the crosswalk and honking aggressively.
People like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, who changed the world, can afford to be difficult or demanding sometimes. But for ordinary people like us, learning to tolerate imperfections and small mistakes is what helps us keep inner peace.
