Can an ugly interaction in traffic turn into a teachable moment?

He approached my minivan as we were sitting at a red light, watching construction trucks cross the intersection .

I rolled the window down, assuming he was a foreman directing traffic.

“You don’t have to leave twenty feet! If you’d pull up I could get around!” he shouted and then stomped off.

“YOU CAN BE NICE ABOUT IT!” I yelled back, as I let my foot off the brake — just a little.

In the rear-view window, I watched his white van squeeze by me and cut through the dry cleaner’s parking lot to make a right turn.

“Did you really say that?” a little voice from the backseat asked.

YES I DID.