I don’t know if I can actually pull this off, but it’s been a thought that I’d like to sound off in the open for others to see.
I follow a lot of stoicism philosophy and I like to follow parables for life lessons. The dichotomy of control, the obstacle is the way, you have two ears and one mouth, Amor Fati, Memento Mori, etc. Most try to put it in every day examples and while I was commuting to and from work, I was constantly fighting the urge not to rage at other selfish drivers. Of course, that comes with the dichotomy of control. I can only control my feelings and actions. But it also occurred to me that no matter what lifestyle you live, what background, character, personality, financial or disability you may or may not have, everyone gets stopped by red lights. There is no competition on who’s the fastest, selfish, richest, toughest, or luckiest person. If you’re rich and own a private jet, you’ll have a chauffeur drive you to where you’ll be. If you don’t own a car, bikes and pedestrians have to obey the intersections. Runners and wheelchairs, fast cars and slow cars, big ass trucks and mini models. Sometimes you get lucky and it’s a green light, but eventually everyone has to stop at a red light.
We’re all equal and it has me more grounded than ever before. We have sports competitions and favorite teams, and my needs versus your needs. Political views, be damned. I always think of the person cutting me off or squeezing and now I just let them. Wherever they are going and for how long, a red light will stop them too.
I wish I could be more profound or add so much more to make into a book, but there you go out in the open. Now people can poke holes in it if they like. Haha
But it also occurred to me that no matter what lifestyle you live, what background, character, personality, financial or disability you may or may not have, everyone gets stopped by red lights.
Police, funerals, ambulances, firetrucks, sports teams, Presidents, and elitist bicyclists may have missed the memo.
Especially the cyclists. Where I live we have dedicated bike lanes on every street everywhere but they always ignore stop signs, lights, etc… and it drives me mad when I have to proactively not kill them.
It’s really not that hard…
You’re not wrong, but missing the point that cyclists still need to follow the rules of the road
Nah, all of those eventually deal with the same roads in a situation where they aren’t granted those exceptions. Even cyclists will if they stay on the road, and arguably that’s still the same concept because they have to leave the road to bypass the lights if there’s no gaps big enough to get through.
Emergency services get stopped at red lights all the time, particularly when they’re not responding to something, but also when they are, in case the light can’t react in time. They usually slow down for safety, sometimes stopping.
Edit: the punctuation will remain fucked up. Sorry.
Of course there are some exceptions and it’s not perfect, but it’s not an every day occurrence with most of those. You do bring up valid points. It’s more of a thought of not wanting to rush everywhere because you’ll get stopped eventually. There are traffic jams, protesters, accidents, and severe weather that can function the same. If it’s something that will help someone deal with the everyday and not have to worry about other people’s status in the world or even the ongoing depression of how little ahead you are in life, it’s a sign that represents a sliver of equality.
Asshole drivers in Oakland, too. They’ll openly run lights if there are no cops in sight.
I get what you’re trying to say. But the truth is, a red light doesn’t stop anyone from doing anything. It just tells them that there will be consequences if they choose to do so and get caught.
For the sake of the metaphor that you were going for, we can say that some people know that they’ll face no consequences if they’re caught. So they feel entitled to not bother stopping. While some people know that, based on previous history, that they’ll be stopped even if they just managed to squeak through while the light was still yellow.
I would posit that it could be based on something else entirely, a civic or moral obligation a person feels to abide by the spirit of the law to help protect fellow people, even if they would not be punished or could some how gain something - in this case, a finite resource - time, for violating the law.
This is objectively not true. Cops, paramedics and people who feel like breaking the all go through red lights. I get where you’re coming from but you’re trying a bit too hard
In the most basic of ways, we are all equal.
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Everyone you’ve ever known or heard of, from Marie Antoinette to your favourite teacher at school, from Albert Einstein to your grandma to Vladimir Putin, shits.
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All blood is red.
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“Whether you’re a king or a little street sweeper, sooner or later you’re gonna dance with the reaper “.
‘Memento mori’ I had heard the “everyone shits” but all blood is red is much more powerful.
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Since traffic lights are car infrastructure, you don’t need them when there are no cars, which is the case in many cities that are walkable and bikable. You don’t need a machine to tell you what to do when you’re only going 20 km/h.
If you learn the timings, and choose the right route, you can hit green lights all night. Back when I had a job which finished up around 2am, I managed to travel ~15km across the city without hitting a red light, probably 2/3 of the time.
some areas near me have lights that will stay green on the main road mostly, but as soon as they see you speeding, they’ll turn red and have signs saying so.
Usually in bigger cities that’s the case. But small towns can be REALLY hit or miss. If there’s traffic sensors they generally do a good job at keeping traffic flowing. But you will know if you’ve hit a light that doesn’t have them, or is purposefully time poorly.
There’s one in my city that is impossible to make unless the second it turns green I gun it. Sometimes I have a second or two to spare. But if there’s ANYONE in the way you will not make that light.
I would also like to point out that everyone stops to take a shit. (not usually at a red light)
Alright, you win. You get to start the book deal. Haha
There are too many loop holes to the traffic lights. The jesus freaks would quote the bible about it and say, “The rain falls on the just and unjust alike.” Personally I’m a fan of “everybody poops.”
There is a whole community of rabid bicyclists (a subset, I’m not generalizing to all bicyclists) who fervently believe they should be able to ride through red lights if there’s no cross traffic because “it’s haaaard” when they have to stop.
Also: cops and ambulances can literally rig the system in their favor, which means the impartiality of red lights is questionable. (And, the rigging is probably in most cases for a good cause, but still.)
I like another commentator’s post: everybody poops. The people who don’t probably - almost uniformly - wish they could, because it they don’t it’s because of some medical condition they’d trade pooping for in an instant. It’s probably not even a silver lining, because they still have to deal with the waste and it’s almost certainly more of PITA than just pooping.
Nice shower thought, though, Marcus A. I’m not strong-willed enough to practice stoicism - I can barely manage to be a reliably hedonist - but I do firmly believe and practice the dichotomy of control. It’s the only thing keeping me sane since the election.
That was my comment, I said everyone poops, lol
Oh, you’re right, you did. Well, I agree. It’s a better metaphor about equality. Everybody pees, and breathes, and uses ATP. But pooping of more funny, so let’s go with that.
a red light will stop them too
lol, don’t come to France, you’ll be disappointed.
I hear the Europeans just drive around in circles.
🫶
Not if you run through them like a ton of people in my city do.
I was going to say something similar – having seen 20+ car crashes from my apartment window, I can confirm that many people do not stop when the light is red…
Be careful out there.
Great point.
This could be added as a warning.
Eventually, if you don’t stop at a red light, something’s gonna happen and it’s probably not good.
