Wednesday Drivin'Bloggin' -- At least the dog lived

So yesterday I was on my way to a Religious Educator Cluster Meeting, when suddenly a low lopey dumb looking dog started ambling across the road in front of me. As I braked, I saw in a car coming toward me in the road, and in my peripheral vision a man, probably my age, on the far side of the road, chewing gum and telling the dog to get back here.

The dog then stopped in the road, cocked his head sideways, (do dogs see better sideways?) watched me coming toward him and decided my car was more interesting than the other side of the road and actually turned into me. The dog was, in fact, as stupid as it looked.

So I slammed my brakes on and pulled off to the right, stopping just short of the ditch. Phew, I thought. No dead dog. All the stuff in my car is on the floor, and my back is a little crooked, but no dead dog. I put on my flashers until the dog got out of the road.

The man still stood on the side of the road, still chewing, nay, chomping gum with his mouth open, his hands still in his pockets. Not a nod, not a wave, not a twitch of a smile to indicate that he was grateful that I didn't run over his dog. So either he wasn't grateful, or didn't think it important to express his gratitude, or, he couldn't in fact chew gum and wave at the same time.

I took a deep breath, and let it go without making a What's the Matter with You a face or gesture. I drove on.

So here's my ponder:

Is it not a nationally common expectation that when someone doesn't run your dog over, or waves you into a merge, or lets you know your headlights aren't on that people wave a thank you? It can't be generational, the guy was my age. If it's not, then I spend much unnecessary energy being ticked off by ingrates who aren't really ingrates.

Are my standards too high?