Think...WE

Sidewalk Art in San Fransico

Witnessing Road Rage discouraged to me.  It clearly shows one person thinking they are separate from everyone else.  When in reality, we’re all here together.  Turning, waiting, moving, stopping.  None of us can fly over the traffic.  Rarely do we have the road to ourselves.  We share it.

A driver in a big, red, Chevy truck, deliberately cut off an older couple, in a smaller, tan Ford.  The couple slowly turned on a yellow light and he gunned it before they finished making their turn.  Cutting them off,  he kept yelling, throwing his fist out the window and honking with his other hand.  500 feet later, he took a quick, left turn, without his signal, and sped off.  The couple in their car, were quite shaken by his behavior and they had to stop and move even slower, to get out of his way.

The other instance, a man, in a red and white Mini-Cooper, wouldn’t let me merge.   There has been a construction mess, in Ann Arbor, in some heavily, trafficked areas.  When an arrow or sign indicates MERGE, there’s not a lot of notice.  This man (also had his window open) was pushing his hand back, over and over.  He was also yelling (like the other rager), "Stay Back, Stay Back!  Wait! Wait!” 

I stopped, stopping the flow of merging traffic, until he went by and the next car let me merge. 

Found on Google Images

In The Art of Possibility, by Rosamund Stone Zander  and Benjamin Zander,  the authors talk about US and THEM.  If we see them as two different entities it can create hostility, struggle, competition, sense of injustice and fear.  

In their book, they encourage, what they believe we can think of, human possibility.  To think WE.  "...at the apex of desperation and rage, we need a new invention to see us through.”  Their new invention is a new way of thinking.  Thinking in possibilities.  

If we can imagine the equation {US + THEM = WE}, the authors believe we might begin to see a deep regard for one another.  We can then begin to engage with and contribute to one another.  

 When I read about this merging of the US and THEM, after the Road Rage scenes, it made sense to me.  I saw the separation.   

I wonder how many drivers slowed down, for me, when I was a kid on my bicycle?  How many times our ball went out in the road and someone stopped, to give us time to get it?  Community.  It was WE.

Our competition isn’t just with each other, either.  I think it’s a competition for time.  There’s only so much time in a day.  If we rush, separate ME hours in a day, with THEM hours, we begin the divide.  When actually, we all have the same amount of time in each day.   

I don’t have to give you more examples, I’m sure you can think of one right now of the US and THEM.  And probably one of  {US + THEM = WE}.

Wasn’t this post short?  After the last one, I thought I’d have a little surprise for my brother, Tim.

I also thought my cousin, Jim Ryerse, would like me mentioning the red and white car.