Traffic Wisdom

Note: this is not a rant

If there’s one thing my Mum taught me to do while driving, it was to use the indicator lights before changing lanes or turning. And often, using the signals, proves to be detrimental to my cause. Every time I indicate that I’m turning, the cars behind or next to me speed up to make sure they get ahead before I make my grand turn into their way. I mean what’s the point? Aren’t they supposed to give me way?

At this point my alter ego steps in. Calmly floating on the empty passenger seat, it says, ‘Life isn’t fair darling. Stop ranting.’

With my frustration and agitation I retort, ‘I know but I’m playing fair. I am telling them I want to turn left, but then they make an extra effort to make sure my transition is difficult.’

‘You play fair, but there’s no guarantee the others will. You’ll always meet people who will be curious to find out what your next move will be and they will be equally unfair and make sure that your transition to that next move will be hellish. Look at you, sure you had to wait for two cars to pass before you could get into the lane that you wanted, but did it stop you? No. You’re still where you wanted to be,’

I fall silent. My alter ego seems to be smarter than my real self! Why didn’t I ever make this connection? Reading my mind, the alter ego decides to add insult to injury and says, ‘Look at that scooter guy who swerved into your lane without a signal? Yeah, and see how you had to stop and slow down to make way? Life will throw such scooters in your way and you will have to find a way to deal with these unpredictable scooters unless you want crash and hurt yourself.’

Who would have thought a damn traffic jam would make me smarter? And who on earth would have thought that an alter ego could reinstate sanity?

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