Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Evolutionary progress...

There he is, a working man, sitting behind the wheel of his AWD pick'm up truck, he has GPS, a cellphone, an iPad, tools and a place to be and things to do. He drives through the quiet pre-dawn, certain that he has been lucky. He is an American, the greatest country in the world. Winner of the Cold War, World War II, and the Civil War. He flies Old Glory at his home, most of the world can't live as well as he does. Medical and dental plans for him and his family, mostly honest police until you get to the big city where it seems everyone is corrupt, at least on news and drama shows.

He had great parents that taught him well, a school system that was boring but then he got out of it all he wanted, the diploma and work. He is really lucky, not a criminal bone in his body, he passes that sign that announces that Speed Limit Strictly Enforced. Of course it is, he thinks to himself, they have radar and cameras everywhere. He is wearing his seat belt, not drinking alcohol nor smoking some strange substance, his radio plays country music but no one knows outside of his truck, not a booming bass driving his mind into frenzy. He enters the small town.

A one-horse town, they once thought of them, it does have one traffic light. No traffic at this time of the morning, they even have DOT cameras to catch the action and photo shots for traffic tickets. As he rolls to the intersection the light turns red and he stops. Completely, and he waits, burning $3.69 a gallon fuel, with ethanol added to increase corn costs... as he waits he thinks about how Abraham Lincoln would have done this... oh, no traffic lights then. Kit Carson would have gone on, blazing through - heck, he was a run away apprentice, couldn't bottle him up. And he waits for the light to change. You do have to live by rules, everyone agrees, if the light wasn't here there might have been an accident, not this morning on this empty road, but still it was for his protection, so he waits. He is sure that just his impatience is making him think that he has been waiting too long, something is wrong with the light. Not that a simple electric machine with a computer chip would ever be wrong... if Candid Camera were still on the television he would think this was a practical joke. Haven't two songs played already? He waits, he has doubts in the light, in the government - if he pulls through the light there will be a policeman to turn on his lights and give him a ticket, look over his car, ask him to open his storage.... always something. He waits, the light has become the center of his life - it can't be working, can it? He would call someone and complain, except he can't use his cellphone while operating his vehicle. He waits for permission to move, granted by the all powerful traffic light... the center of his life NOW.

Evolutionary changes in human beings? Maybe... certainly have more than enough rules against common sense.

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