Traffic

I'm sitting on my bike at a stop sign. There are some pedestrians to my right, trying to cross the same busy street and in the same direction as I am. A car coming from our right is turning left onto our street, making a bit of a complicated traffic situation. Cars are whizzing by at 50 mph in both directions.

But it's okay, everything will be fine as long as everybody does what they should do, what they normally would do, comply with traffic laws and conventions, etc.

But now from our left, on the high-traffic street, comes a Jeep driven by somebody with, apparently, a heart that's over-flowing with loving kindness and sympathy. So what does this driver do? Slows down, stops, and motions us to cross the road.

Is the driver signalling to us, or to the person trying to turn left? We can't tell, but it doesn't matter, because we can't go, as there's traffic coming at 50 mph from the other direction. The person turning left makes their turn, and we keeping waiting for traffic to subside. The driver in the Jeep sits there for a moment, apparently decides that we're ungrateful, and continues on their way. We wait a few more minutes and cross the street when it's safe.

I say to the pedestrians as we cross the street together, "Well there's a perfect example of good intentions with no brains," to which they both heartily agree.

As I'm riding away I'm thinking, "I wonder if that driver was a Democrat. That's certainly the sort of thing a Democrat might do. And surely no Republican would ever be accused of such a thing!"



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