Before You Cross the Street

“Look both ways!” is what parents call out when watching a child venture forth for the first, fortieth, or hundredth time.  When we’re young we reach for a grown up’s or our buddy’s hand.  We cross at the light and pay attention to the crossing guard.

As adults we walk by different rules.  We may still look both ways but cross where we want, daring drivers to think they have the right of way.  Commuters believe they can still make it across the intersection even as the sign counts down 3 – 2 – 1.  When I was in Calgary several years ago and stepped off the curb just as the white “Walk” switched to the flashing orange “Don’t Walk,” a local resident grabbed my arm and pulled me back.  I looked and saw that no one else was starting out and explained that in Chicago we consider the “Don’t” more of a guide than an absolute.  He tut-tut-tutted and rolled his eyes.

We can walk for a cause, pleasure, or exercise.  During a casual evening constitutional, we may stop and talk with a neighbor but will only wave as we power by with arms pumping and an earbud offering a quick beat for our steps.

In some countries looking left and then right is backwards for us and if we don’t look left again we could be in for a surprise.  We have learned to also look down to check for potholes or puddles of water and watch to make sure that someone in a wheelchair or with a cane navigates the concrete ramp without mishap.  Dog owners teach Rover and Lady to sit at the curb before venturing on to the street. 

Sometimes we arrive at a corner and just can’t get across the busy street.  Or, we don’t like the neighborhood and want to turn around and go home.  Or we’re so accustomed to the path we’re on that we take no detours.  This can be true literally or metaphorically. 

It’s nearly halfway through the year.  Is there something you had hoped to accomplish this year but you have yet to start that journey?  Or you started but encountered a roadblock?  Are you content, excited, sufficiently challenged by the road you’ll walk this week?  If not, consider following Dolly Parton’s advice, “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving a new one.”

But continue to look both ways – even crossing a One Way Street.

Marilyn