Stopping at a Stoplight in the Middle of Nowhere
When the light turns red, I stop. It doesn’t matter whether there’s anyone around to see. It doesn’t matter if there is or isn’t a videocam to record the moment. I stop as an affirmation of a social contract of mutual concern and responsibility. This is what we all should do, regardless of whether we might get caught. I want to have faith that others won’t cut corners, take unnecessary risks, and cause avoidable accidents. Waiting for a couple minutes at a stop light in an empty intersection in the middle of the night, I feel a connection with other drivers who I have never met who would do the same for the same reason.
I’m reminded of the old question, “If a tree falls in the forest with no one to hear, does it make a sound?” Does it need a witness, a human witness, in order for the falling of a tree to matter?
I believe we are all more intimately connected to one another than that, connected both by what we do and what we don’t do, whether alone or in the presence of others — connected every moment of our lives.
