Ignorant and Rude

I witnessed something yesterday that just left me completely flabberghasted. I couldn't believe the audacity of these people, and it wasn't just a couple, it seemed rampant. Here's what happened. I was on the way home from the health club, and in a very good mood. I got stopped by a ton of traffic on a normally busy, but smooth moving street. The traffic was backed up for almost a mile. I thought there must be a horrible accident up at the intersection ahead, and braced for seeing something horrific. What did I find when I got there? The lights were out. Nothing more horrible than a blinking red light in each direction. That isn't cause for alarm, and while it does cause traffic to back up, what really got my attention was the ignorant and rude actions of some of the drivers.

Oddly enough, not the drivers on the street I was on. Everyone, and I do mean ABSOLUTELY everyone I watched obeyed the normal and common courtesy of approaching the line, waiting their turn, and crossing the intersection. That meant three at a time on each side, because the road is three lanes wide at that point. That's fair. What was so shocking was the actions of the drivers on the cross street. IN EVERY instance, when the cars pulled up to the line to wait their turn, when the road was clear, not only did those three on each side cross, but TWO more lines of three on each side crossed as well. This did not just happen one time, as if a group of unruly drivers felt their right to get through the ordeal faster than anyone else... no, it happened repeatedly through as many exchanges as I could see as I approached. It had to be eight crosses before I got up to the line and watched the gaggle of cars boldly charge across before it was my line's turn to go.

I lost a lot of faith in human decency yesterday.

I know this is the "big city" and people do things that are rude and in their rush to be where they are going faster than anyone else, can seem ignorant, but that was far beyond anything I would have ever imagined before. What got me most was that it wasn't a few brash, rude people, it was dozens of them. Shame on you... you just aren't that important. You can wait your turn like everybody else.