To the editor:

To my fellow Lawrence resident, I am truly sorry that I bumped the side of your SUV with the door of my little Volkswagen Wednesday afternoon. I was struggling to get my infant son’s car seat into the back of my car, and the gap between downtown parking spaces can be quite narrow. If it will make you feel better, I will gladly invest the 30 seconds it would take to buff out the tiny ding I left. That is, if we can find it.

Even so, I would like to express my appreciation. My 6-year-old daughter later asked about what you said. We try very hard to teach her good manners and graciousness, even when things go wrong. So thank you very much for providing a perfect counterexample to how a mature adult should behave. Fortunately, she’s already been exposed to sarcasm, so she wasn’t completely confused by what you said.

Michael Kanter,

Lawrence