Saturday, December 12, 2009

Dealing With Traffic II

Warning! The below was written when I was NOT in the Christmas spirit.

My young bride thinks I'm an odd duck. She is an introverted stage mistress who loves communicating with people as long as she doesn't have to face them. Stage acting and the internet (one again, thank you, Albert Gore Jr.) are the best things ever for her. She can bask in the adulation of an audience without having to actually speak to them directly, and she can communicate personally with people world-wide and never have to sit and drink coffee at The Brown Cup in Lenoir City with them.

I, on the other hand, am a semi-educated extrovert with a pretty good general knowledge of things historically and pop-culture-wise, and an opinion on just about everything. I have the ability to talk to just about anyone, from the intelligence-challenged to X Smith, PhD. I simply choose not to do so the bulk of the time. This is because -- based on my experience -- people are idiots. And many are narcissistic idiots who only ask one's opinion so one can agree with them.

Also, I do not totally absolve myself from this category, just so we're all clear on this. I have the capacity for self-centeredness just as any other person does. But I am aware of this, and do my utmost to keep in under control, along with my testosterone poisoning.

Another traffic example from my travels back and forth to West Knoxville for my job as an industrial temp: Recently, on a Sunday morning, I was making my way toward Emerachem for a day of labor. As I approached the Watt road exit from the west, there was an automobile coming up on me in the center lane, while I was in the right lane. There was no traffic of which one could have spoken. When I went beneath the underpass, I saw that a semi was making its way out toward the eastbound lane. Driving laws and common courtesy, at this point, direct that I make room for the truck to enter the roadway, so I engaged my signal and moved to the left. The car coming up on me was moving rapidly, but the driver had ample time to move into the far left lane, which was totally unoccupied.

Thus, the other car moved into the right lane to pass, causing the poor guy driving the truck (one can only hope that the car-driving donkey's Christmas present was on the truck, and is now sitting in a warehouse, lost to the point that delivery will be somewhere between never and 50 years from now) to have to slow his massive vehicle, then try to get back up to speed as he was climbing a hill.

I think most people are like Donkey-man. Of course, that's merely an opinion.

Thus, I will also give the next example, positing the questionable existence of good-will, and the concept of spreading it about.

On a recent trip to Bob's Package Store, to procure various and sundry bottles of ethanol as Christmas gifts, I was forced to position myself on Kingston Pike, in the middle of the holiday season, so I could then take my place on the interstate parking lot. I had moved from North Winston, and was behind a white Cadillac Escalade, the chosen SUV of the entitled, as far as I can tell. This is not to malign the folks who drive these vehicles because they enjoy them, it is merely an observation.

As traffic moved slowly toward Gallaher View Road, we found ourselves in front of a small strip mall -- behind a red light that was at least a quarter of a mile distant -- and Entitled Driver positioned his vehicle directly in front of the exit from the strip mall, which irritated myself and the young lady who was attempting to enter Kingston Pike from the strip mall lot.

The traffic light finally turned green, and -- ten minutes later, when the cars in front of me began to move -- I motioned the young lady to enter the Gordian Grid. She acknowledged my courtesy, and was then stuck with the rest of us. However, at the next opportunity, she allowed someone else to enter the trafficious puzzle. And that person passed the courtesy forward, and so on.

So, I could be wrong; perhaps the majority of people aren't idiots. I'll go into a holding pattern and wait to see.

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