# Road rage left him without a car

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-road-rage-new-york-stolen-car
- Themes: anger, karma, road rage, stupidity
- Life situations: road rage, losing temper, seeing karma land

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

In a New York road-rage story he tells, an angry driver stopped at a red light, jumped out and beat on the other car's window. The lights changed and the other car fled — but he had left his door open, keys in, engine running. A street kid stole his car; he stood in the intersection with nothing.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

that famous example which I don't know where the last time I told here apparently was in New York I don't know what caused this road rage but this one driver was very upset the other Drive was chasing him through through the streets of New York and managed to catch him at a red light the two cars had to stop at the traffic light and the angry driver got out of his car at the stops at the traffic Junction and started beating on the window of the other car trying to get in and of course that driver inside the car was terrified if that glass had broken if the know the angry driver had got in there he'd be in big trouble but fortunately the lights changed in time so the driver inside the car sped off but what happened to the driver who was trying to break in was actually a good illustration of the law of karma why you should never get Road raage why you should never get angry because when he jumped out of his car to try and get into the his enemy's car he left the door open with the keys in the ignition and the engine running and you don't do that in New York cuz when he turned around to get in his car it always sped off some Street kid had stolen his car and there he was standing in the intersection with with no car

## Teaching point

Anger makes you stupid; bad karma arrives while you're still raging.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

In a New York road-rage tale, a furious driver jumped out at a red light to bang on another car's window, leaving his door open and engine running. The other car fled, and a kid drove off in his. Anger makes us foolish. Stop trying to control the world, and let bad drivers be bad drivers.

## Source

- [Why Do People Do Bad Things? | Ajahn Brahm | 17-06-2011](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaEI0Z2tesA) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 27:46 to 29:12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaEI0Z2tesA&t=1666s

Other tellings of this story:

- [The Four Old Men | Ajahn Brahm | 10-12-2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0aShBL6-i8) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 16:15 to 18:13: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0aShBL6-i8&t=975s
- [Vibe | Ajahn Brahm | 20 October 2017](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G00nJgXX6y0) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 2:52 to 3:23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G00nJgXX6y0&t=172s