On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

If you drive in Somerville, or any place in the greater Boston area for that matter, I have the consummate cure for road rage. Do not roll your window down and shout an expletive and do not flash any sign language out the window. Why you ask? Because it is not polite and the guy might be a nut and come after you? Nope. Because chances are the person in the other car is someone you know from Somerville or someone who knows you, just saying hi. My conditioning has been hear a beep, flash the bird and then check it out.

I had the pleasure of hosting Gene Brune’s 24th Annual Scholarship Breakfast at Anthony’s in Malden on Sunday the 13th. It was a banquet hall filled with friendly, familiar faces. Not only was it great seeing all the politicians who came out to support Gene’s wonderful cause, but what really made my day was seeing old friend after old friend come through that door. I saw my friend Dennis Murphy’s mother from Bromfield Road, along with her daughter. It could have been them in the car just tooting to say hello.

I saw Mr. and Mrs. Dan Macero, the guy responsible for bringing project Star to Somerville. His lovely wife told me that she and my Mom were friends and our families were from the same part of Italy. I saw my cousins John and Freddie Caruso who I sat with at the event. Those two guys are Somerville ‘s official delegates. If Freddie Caruso beeps at you in traffic, be pleasant. He is a dignitary.

Jerry Ardolino was there, and I had the pleasure of sitting next to Dapper Dan himself. Danny could have been in that car behind me in Davis Square traffic. The knee jerk reaction is to get mad and think we are doing something to irk the other driver, but it just ain’t so. We think we are mind readers when we get behind the wheel.

We sang a Happy 101st birthday to a lovely lady at a table to Gene’s right. I was blown away when I saw a guy who I had just written about in an earlier article. Jerry, the former owner of The Embassy Lounge (reference one of my previous columns entitled: An Embassy In Somerville). The Carli Fence guys were there too along with Alan Nissenbaum.

The kings of fences and the crown prince of junk!

Any of these guys could be that car that beeps at me at a light or passing through Teele Square – the longer you live in Somerville, the more people you know. You may not remember them, but they remember you. It’s easy for people to spot me in traffic because my melon head is hard to miss.

John McGillvary, John Sullivan, Eddie Ciampa or Marie Howe, may recognize you and give you a honk – so the next time someone starts beeping at you as you are talking on the cell phone while  trying to negotiate the rotary or trying to beat the light in Davis Square, don’t freak out. It’s probably the kid whose test you copied off of in Mr. Caruso’s Geometry class. Or it could be your old girlfriend’s big brother (who still hates you) or maybe even an old girlfriend or boyfriend.

In my case it could be a potential new girlfriend or old flame who heard I was recently single again. I wouldn’t want to flip off a chance like that. What I’m trying to say is that the longer you live here, the more people you know, so don’t freak out at someone in traffic, because it may come back to bite you later.

Instead of  automatically thinking someone is harassing you, remember this – it might  be your kids former soccer coach, an usher at St Clements, a former classmate of yours and even officer Tim Mitsakis in an un-marked car. So give them the benefit of the doubt and give them a full wave back – instead of just one finger.

Please e-mail your comments to Jimmy at: jimmydel@rcn.com