Laws??? Are You Kidding??

I am trying to remain positive. As I was driving around our fare city the other day it occurred to me that I was a very small minority of people actually following traffic laws. As this observation sank in, it made me wonder about our society in general. Now before anyone gets defensive just forget it. I don’t care if you’re a new driver or a seasoned citizen you all, with small exceptions, ignore most basic driving laws. So to me the deeper question is why?

Have we become a society that is so self absorbed that everyone and everything else takes a back seat? What I am getting at are driving laws the only laws we ignore? I think it’s a good question. I think it is a matter of both respect and of integrity. I have a deep respect for the law and the people that are charged at enforcing the law. Do you?

Do you respect and consider everyone else in this world? I’m not just talking about driving and really I pose these questions about our human behavior in general. Go to a public location and watch how people react and interact with strangers. I think we are sliding into an impersonal and inconsiderate kind of society. We would rather e-mail the person two cubicles away then actually talk to them and we actually KNOW them to some degree. What does this say about us?

I don’t go to theaters a great deal anymore and it is because, you guessed it, inconsiderate people. Go to a store and just try to talk to anyone you don’t know. Often you are scanned with a lack of trust about your actual intentions for just a friendly conversation. Even our house of worship is a place where we must really intentionally reach out to newcomers and it is work for many of us because we just don’t do it anywhere else.

So back to the driving observation. I try to stay within a modicum of the speed limit. Can you imagine that? I drive our beltline and I don’t care when it is people fly by me with absolutely no regard to any sense of danger they may be causing. Do they not care? Many of these people are probably your neighbors that you think a great deal of and that begs the question why do they drive the way they do?

It may all come back to the old adage about how it is so much easier to look at others and not at your own mirror. I really think for some people that behavior has become so habitual no matter what type of behavior that they are completely clueless about whether it is a good behavior or bad one. Don’t get me wrong. I have faults. Plenty of them, however, I just have to wonder if people actually care about anything but themselves any longer. The more serious question is can this type of behavior be changed.

You may have guessed it but I don’t have answers to these questions. The only way I see to make any change is one person at a time. I will continue to obey the speed limit to the annoyance of so many and who knows…perhaps someone else may take a step back and say hey….I guess I was breaking the law.