One of the friendliest encounters I had last week occurred as I was driving and someone nearly collided with me.

The other driver cut a turn tightly, nearly clipping me as I approached a stop sign.

In that split second, with an apologetic grimace, she waved as though to say, “Woah. I’m really sorry. I didn’t intend to negotiate the turn so dangerously.”

And in that same split second, I smiled and returned the wave as though to say, “No harm done! Glad we’re both OK.”

A small offense followed by a small act of forgiveness … resulted in a lasting cheerfulness.

We can’t expect our days to go by without fault or offense. How we navigate those moments — on both sides — helps determine the tone of the accompanying soundtrack.