I was in a car accident a week and a half ago. My vehicle was rear-ended while stopped for a school bus.

Though the other vehicle made solid impact, the good news is the collision hurt no one and caused minimal damage. In fact, this was as easy an experience with being in a two-car accident as I could imagine.

It was a Wednesday morning. The other driver, “Nancy” (not her real name), was a woman in about her fifties. She and I were both on our way to work, heading east, and the rising sun blinded her to the line of cars stopped in the road in front of her.

Clearly, Nancy was at fault. She admitted it, apologized repeatedly for causing the accident, and, upon seeing the damage to my rear bumper, agreed that calling the police was the right thing to do. (The state trooper who arrived ended up citing her for following too closely.)

When I finally got to work, I contacted my insurance company, which contacted Nancy’s, which contacted me. After a few conversations, the following Monday I brought my car to a body shop of my choosing and picked up a loaner from a nearby car rental place. Three days later my vehicle was repaired and the loaner returned, all at no cost to me, other than time and a little inconvenience. Like I said, pretty easy.

In the Gospel reading the Sunday after the accident, Jesus cures a man of his blindness, and, ironically, it is this man who seems to be the only character in the story who “sees” the truth of Jesus’ divinity and the hope of his message. The driver behind me could not see well enough to avoid hitting the car in front of her. But she could see the truth of the situation and accept her responsibility to those she had injured. For that I am grateful.

Before leaving the scene of the accident, I approached the driver’s side of Nancy’s car and held out my hand. “Thank you for being so gracious about all of this,” I said to her. She gripped my hand and said, “Right back at you.”

I wish her well and hope the accident’s consequences to her will be minor.