The Kindness of Understanding

"Do you know what people really want? Everyone, I mean. Everybody in the world is thinking: I wish there was just one other person I could really talk to, who could really understand me, who'd be kind to me. That's what people really want, if they're telling the truth.”
― Doris Lessing

In a store parking lot yesterday, I was beginning to open my car door to get out, when a car zipped into the parking space next to me and almost hit me.  Startled, I closed my door quickly.  The driver of the car did not notice.  As I got out of my car, a woman who also had just parked, said to me, "She didn't even notice."  I smiled and nodded, immediately feeling better than someone had seen my predicament -- and understood.  A few minutes later, as I was getting back into my car, the woman who had made the comment also was leaving.  We smiled and waved at each other goodbye.  Usually, I might recount the incident to someone -- "You won't believe someone almost hit me as I was getting out of my car!"  But someone already knew -- she had seen it and understood.  And that kindness of understanding was enough.