Traffic as Life

August 5th, 2007

Why can’t life be more like Paris traffic? When we arrived here I was scared to death to even think about driving here. Luckily we didn’t have to. In the city of paris there are very few driving lanes and it seems to be every car, truck, motorcycle, scooter, bike and person for themselves. This is very scary from the point of view of an american driver that has been taught to drive defensively.
After a couple days here I’ve noticed something interesting. The drivers here have an understanding. They realize they are all in this thing together. They give and take space and share the road because they all have places to go. No one is more important than the others.
There are about 11 million people in paris yet I have seen any road rage, obscene gestures and amazingly not a single fender bender. I’m sure there are but I haven’t seen any. Compared to 1 week in the small town of nampa where I see 1 of each of these things daily it seems. Traffic is part of life the people of Paris. These drivers have accepted traffic/life as is it comes and they respect the other drivers just because they are on the road/journey with them.
It this not a beautiful image of how life should be? We are all in this thing together, why not work together and help each other out. We can live a better life letting others in and slowing down for those around us than we ever could if we all go as fast as we want in any direction without concern for the person on our right and left. You may get some scratches along the way and sometimes a big truck will double park in front of you but be patient someone will slow up and let you get around.

That’s what I think anyway.

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