There are many reasons in life to hate people. I’ve sure had my fill of those reasons lately.

December marked a month of patience for me, as I quit my part-time job due to a genuine mistake (and what I consider poor managerial skills), I dealt with finals and was part of a car “crash” in a parking lot. Final exams alone are enough to put a college student on edge without adding an insurance investigation and jury summons to the mix — not to mention Christmas shopping, bell ringers and being unable to get through traffic.

However, I tried to deal with the whole situation with as much grace as I could muster. The “crash” I spoke of was more of a “bumping” in a parking lot. Having checked my mirrors and finding no reason not to begin backing my car, I slowly removed myself from the parking space. Halfway out, my passenger noticed taillights of another car. By that time I felt a bump, got out of the car, and checked both mine and the other woman’s car. We were both halfway out of our parking spots.

“Oh, did we hit?” the woman asked as she came out of her car to inspect the cause of the bump. My passenger wiped off both bumpers.

“Yeah, but there doesn’t seem to be much damage,” I said, straining my eyes. I was ready to get back into my car when the woman suggested we should exchange information anyway.

“I started backing out and thought I should see if anyone was behind me,” she said. I was mystified. Did she just admit she hadn’t even looked behind her before she started backing? No wonder I hadn’t seen any tail lights or another car backing out. She hadn’t started until I had. “That’s when I saw you coming and laid on my horn. Did you hear it?”

I admitted I hadn’t heard anything, and my passenger agreed. Either she had the quietest horn in all of vehicular history or she hadn’t done it until we’d already bumped.

“Yeah, it was a little late,” admitted her male passenger. Good grief. Then she started talking about insurance, and here is where claims come in.

Her insurance says it’s all my fault, even though my insurance actually came out and took pictures of all my damage, ruling it a 50-50 fault. How is it possible that someone sitting at a desk can decide whose fault it was when he or she didn’t even assess the damage? Besides, my estimated damage was worse than hers. And still, I can barely see anything wrong.

With all the stress of insurance claims, unruly drivers, final exams and quitting my job, I was feeling pretty fed up with people at that point. Understandably, of course. Still, I didn’t like feeling grouchy with complete strangers for no reason.

Did I mention that this all was right about the time when the first snow storm hit and the plows blocked in all of our cars? Everyone was digging out his or her car that week. I was having a tough time getting my car’s tires to get enough traction to make it through the giant snow pile behind my car.

Another student was digging his car out a little beyond my own and must have seen our similar predicaments, because to my surprise, he came over to help me with my car. He didn’t want anything in return; he simply thought he could help me with my car. It put a lot of things in perspective for me.

After yet another call from the woman’s insurance company over Christmas break, I tried to find a reason not to work myself up into a rampant rage. And then I found it. Just when I thought I’d had enough of the world and of stupid people, I remembered the student who helped me dig out my car for no deeper reason than just being kind.

The holidays may be over, but people are still going to be rude, stupid and just plain inconsiderate. Instead of giving in and making it determine who you are, remember random acts of kindness and how one act can change your day.

Happy New Year, and good luck this semester.

Sarah Tisinger is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Bettendorf.