I was just thinking

Yes, that happens every once in a while.

I was coming home from work the other day and I encountered traffic on the freeway, which had come to a near standstill. As we crawled along, I could see flashing lights up ahead. When I got closer, I saw that the emergency vehicles and the fender bender that caused them to deploy were all on the other side the jersey barrier in the opposing lanes of traffic. This means that were absolutely no impediments on my side of the freeway, yet traffic had slowed to a crawl as it went past the wreck on the other side of the freeway. Now, this phenomenon is not new, in fact there is even a time-honored name for the practice: rubbernecking. However, have you ever thought through what exactly had to occur for traffic to come to a standstill on the side of the freeway where the wreck didn't even happen?

This means some rubbernecking jackass, of his own volition, actually slowed down on the freeway to some 5 to 10 miles an hour to take a look at the wreck that occured on the other side of the freeway. Naturally, when jackass or jackasses (maybe more than one slowed down) brings their auto to a crawl, everyone behind the jackass(es) had to slow down as well, and voila! Traffic jam. Have you ever had the urge to voluntarily slow from 70 mph to a crawl on a busy freeway so you could gawk at a wreck that doesn't even impede your path? Neither have I, but obviously, some people are not as swift.

When it comes to behavior that I cannot imagine myself doing, I also am struck with this same feeling of disbelief when I look at all the trash on the ground around the lunchtime eating area on the campus at which I teach. Practically every potato chip bag, soda can, and sandwich wrapper had to have been purposely dropped there. I imagine myself standing down there, talking to my friends, and the thought of taking that paper bag that held my lunch and simply dropping it on the asphalt and walking away is a notion that is so alien to me that my brain has trouble wrapping itself around the concept. Obviously, the brains of many of the students at my school are not as easily burdened with such a complex process of thinking. Lucky them.

It's not easy being perfect.

Good Day to You, Sir