God 1, Me 0

On our way to a friend's house for dinner on Saturday evening, we were pulled over for speeding. Well, I should say Ryan was pulled over for speeding; the rest of us were just along for the ride. And while the police officer was running Ryan's driver's license and insurance information through his computer, I was silently seething.

This isn't the first time Ryan's been pulled over for speeding. The last time he was caught in a blatant (and unavoidable and completely unfair) speed trap so we're not exactly the most trustful people when it comes to traffic cops. And while Ryan was speeding this particular time (and he readily admitted it to the police officer), our previous experience left us completely jaded when it comes to the fairness of moving violations.

So I was really mad and annoyed. And I'm not afraid to admit that there was a lot of eye rolling on my part because I believe that there are real criminals out there that need to be caught. You know, murderers and the like.* Ryan, however, seemed completely calm which I found to be quite strange since I knew neither of us would be too happy about having to part with a good amount of money for either the ticket or a defensive driving class.

When the officer came back to our car from his, he handed back Ryan's license and insurance card and simply gave him a warning. That's it. Just a warning.

In utter disbelief, we went on our happy little way. When I said that I couldn't believe that just happened, especially since I was so busy silently cursing the existence of traffic cops, Ryan just laughed. He told me that while I was wishing lightning would strike the guy, he was praying.

I should have known that God wins every time.


* Disclaimer: We're both aware that the law is the law and there are consequences if it is broken; we were perfectly willing to pay for a ticket since he did break the law. I'm just saying that in the grand scheme of society and the rules that hold it together, going a little bit over the speed limit ranks toward the bottom of the list of crimes and society would be better served by having the police concentrate on crimes toward the top of the list.