I saw it coming. I was in a slow motion movie however I knew it was life! As I waited at an intersection, the driver in a car near me was focused on the road ahead. From every word coming from his posture and stance, his full concentration was on the road ahead. With windows rolled up, he was in a world of his own.
I watched, eyes drifting left and right, waiting for the green. There is a natural sequence at this intersection that makes everything predictable, well almost.
I watched the cars, small trucks, and motorcycles approach and find their directions. For most it was clear that the driver and passengers were aware of what was going on around them. For one delivery truck, even as he approached, it seemed as if he was distracted. From the way the truck sat, it was clear he had a heavy load. From the phone in his hand, it was as if he was trying to figure out what direction to take. Watching it make me feel sorry for him given that he was probably late, stressed, and walking into a firestorm.
Unfortunately, the turn signals were agnostic to whatever was going on it his life. They changed. He did not. The concentrating driver near me went off normally on his green. It was a recipe of disaster being mixed in front of me. My best move was staying still.
I knew yelling was pointless. With my helmet on, it was unlikely that anyone would hear me. With his windows closed and centration on high, there was no chance! Fate was going to be ugly and it was.
In an old story, Oppressors chased their prey blindly. Their focus and concentration was total. When things changed, a rescue in that case, the stuff that followed caught them out in the open. A writer noted that “the waters flowed back on their oppressors; there wasn’t a single survivor.” (Psalm 106.11)
Today there were damage cars, frayed tempers, but everyone involved was unhurt. It could have been very different.
