I've been dropping the little one off in school for the past few days and hence getting to experience peak morning traffic on major arterial roads. Thankfully we don't need to take the highways to get to school.
I think humanity can be broadly divided into the risk takers i.e, the free birds who love a challenge,those who are daring and love the sheer thrill of a cliff hanger..... The second category is the tame bunch- the "I'll follow the rules and never swerve from the path of virtue" kind.Keep in mind I did not say this was a hard and fast thing,just a broad classification. I am sure there a gazillion micro groups in here,but from what I've observed,there are just two major groups.
How did I come to this conclusion? Well Oregon has,on most two lane roads,this really frustrating merge into one lane that occurs two car lengths after a signal.Meaning if you are sitting at a signal on the right lane,you have about .00005 seconds to merge into the left lane once the light turns green, and that has to come about not just because you stepped on the gas,but because the stars are aligned and the driver(s) on the left lane decide to indulge you ,and give way. Do you have a sign before the signal letting you know that the right lane ends really really quickly? Yes,ofcourse you do!
This is where the afore mentioned species classification takes place. The daredevils decide to still stay on the right lane,and the species on the straight and narrow move to the left lane BEFORE the lights. Once the lights turn green,the tame left lane drivers cautiously hit the gas,because they know the crazy ones in the right lane will try to zoom in before them and getting one car ahead is going to make their day,for that day. This is something I've been seeing day in and day out for the last few days. The ones on the right lane are pretty persistent. They don't care that their lane has ended! Egads!! No problem,just keep going! You can always muscle your way in,because the nincompoops on the left lane have to let you in. They are the nice ones remember? The saps?
Okay,remember I said there are a million subgroups in between? I think I belong to one of these subgroups,which is made up of people who are rule followers who unfortunately are daredevils too. The juxtaposition of these two characteristics makes life torture to these people.In the afore mentioned scenario,they are the ones who WANT to be on the rightlane,but know they need to be on the left because that is the right thing to do. But having to sit on the left lane and watch the fellow daredevils speed past you with gay abandon is too much to take!
I wonder if the nature versus nurture theory comes into play here. Like,I think I am by nature a risk taker,but my upbringing was very disciplined. My parents would kill me if I did anything bad. So I have self regulated to be an average risk taker. But put me behind the wheels of a car,and watch me go!!Even then,breaking rules is very tough to do,stewing over someone else doing what by nature comes to you easily is torture!!! The reason I mention this is because my sister and I share this specific trait.
The older one was in the car with me and after a perfectly legal left turn which I thought I took a little too fast,I asked him if he thought his mum was a crazy driver.
Diplomacy is not one of his finer points but in that split second he weighed the two options of starving to death because his mum wouldn't feed him versus a white lie which would keep him in food into the near future,and came up with a succinct," Sometimes!".
Being someone who is constantly rooting around for teachable moments, I told him that it was good he thought that way,because less than two years from now he will learn to drive and then,he can keep his mother's driving style in mind,and do the exact opposite - that will keep him out of trouble!
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