~Traffic Tales~
Zooming down Mopac a couple days ago, I had to truly smile at the lessons of life literally rushing around me. I was in a slow-paced day, having actually gotten out of bed when the alarm first sounded and not rushing in chaos to get ready.
As other cars zipped in and out of the steady flow of traffic headed south, the images of the tortoise and the hare appeared in my mind. Ironically, I am normally the one zipping in and out of traffic, often very arrogant and proud that I have "mastered" this daily commute. But not this day.............KLove playing on my radio and the very cool air with grey overcasting mingled together to put my spirit at rest. So crystal clear was the analogy of society, the tortoise/hare and the Mopac traffic. When the street lights collectively turned-off, I saw society as a collective.....
It became evident to me that as society moves forward in its consistent and slow pace, individual participants within it that move too quickly can cause instability, possibly even danger.
It's like when an aggressive driver exceeds the speed limit, cuts off other drivers and violates almost all traffic laws in some attempt to get somewhere quicker only to arrive barely minutes ahead of all the other drivers. When I am tempted to whip around others in impatience, I remind myself that driving 5 miles an hour faster than the flow of traffic only gets me 5 miles further down the road in an hour, an hour. In my normal 20 minute commute, this only puts me about 2 minutes ahead of the flow. Putting it in perspective this way helps me cope with my own frustration at leaving behind schedule or at the slow moving traffic.
I think life is truly the same way. I tend to be very aggressive (I call it proactive) and often impatient. I can only imagine how much my attitude iritates those around me who have eased into the steady stream of others in this traffic lane we call life. It is my own heightened preparedness that both benefits and harms me and my interactions with others. Kaitlyn told me that she often felt scrutinized and frustrated because of my heightened awareness. In complete awe that she could verbalize this, I promised her I would work on it, learning to put more faith in others and in the life processes around me.
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