Right of Way

A thought that keeps coming back, and an idea for a book I'd like to write.

Imagine a pedestrian crossing the road. The light turns red for vehicles and green for the pedestrian, who steps off to cross because the road code says they can. They have the right of way.

But the right of way is really just an understanding. It lives in a law book, in a sign, in the painted pedestrian lines on the road. The car coming is a different kind of thing entirely. It has weight, and speed, and a driver who will decide whether to stop or to keep driving. Maybe the driver stops because it's the law. Maybe because they would feel terrible if they didn't and knocked the pedestrian down. Or maybe they keep driving, because they believe they can get away with it, or believe they have the right of way and the pedestrian should just wait until they pass.

The pedestrian has the right of way. The driver has the power. So unless there is a greater power to enforce the right of way, some people may never abide by it.

I think most of us live our lives like that pedestrian, trusting the light and saying we have the right of way, that the driver must stop because it is against the law to break a red light, and that if they do, they will be punished. And most of the time we are right, not because the law has muscle, but because there is usually someone, or some system, to enforce that right of way and apply consequences to those who go against it. We often mistake that choice to enforce for a guarantee.

Then one day someone with enough power does the very thing we were sure couldn't happen. And we're surprised when they get away from the consequences. We feel like we've woken from a dream. But the truth is we were dreaming all along. The driver choosing to stop and let the pedestrian cross was never the law itself stopping them. It was the belief that the law would be enforced and applied to that driver.

I see this a lot in the news, especially in international affairs, where we notice the inconsistencies in how nations respond to the same wrongs, depending on who did them, and to whom. Rules are like the computer monitor we look at. Power is the operating system running behind the scenes. Most people only ever see the monitor, until the system reminds them it was there the whole time.

I'm not taking sides, simply making an observation, and I believe it is important that we understand what is truly happening, regardless of our position. What I see is older than any country's flag. It's human nature. Truth be told, we are still living in the jungle, only now we are dressed in civilized clothes, with traffic lights all around. From time to time we wake up to it, call it unnatural, and then we go back to sleep.

These are the ideas in my head that I would like to write a book about. Not to feed fear, or to promote a doom and gloom view of life, but to help us see the truth, so we can better adapt to what is really happening and find better solutions to the ills of life.

For many, the right of way is just a legal concept. In this world, to survive, we must understand how many see life and adapt for better survival.