So the other day Kristen and I were in traffic. Normal, 54 into Chapel Hill in the afternoon traffic. I heard the siren first. Or maybe it was the flashing lights. Either way, I quickly understood there was an ambulance coming. I had to get out of the way. As I moved to the right lane and slowed to a crawl/stop the other cars on this three lane stretch of road did the same. All the cars! 100%. Quickly, with great cooperation.
You continually see be stubborn and uncooperative with each other. Congress, churches, classmates and people in general; working together for a common good is hard to find. Except when an ambulance is coming through. This led me to think, what is it about this situation that makes everyone immediately corporate.
What is the same/different between roadway Ambulance navigation and cooperation in other areas of our lives. And what can we learn from these ideal situations cooperation to use in the other areas of our lives.
5 comments:
First, there is a real and somewhat likely punishment to failing to move over for a siren.
Second, the siren is like wakeup call. I maintain that people genuinely want to be cooperative, kind and caring but when left to the normal hundrum of their lives, they become self-centered. Then a siren occurs (death of someone loved, natural disaster, etc) and people snap out of the self-centeredness.
Third, on last weeks post, I am totally going to tell Lindsay about the honorary friend degree. It will make her day, or rather her night, since she is working nights now.
The reason what works for an ambulance doesn't work for things like Congress are the following:
1. The ability for everyone to quickly and easily assess the problem at hand (i.e. the ambulance needs to get where it is going quickly).
2. Very few facts to analyze (ambulance is coming and needs to get where it is going).
3. A (generally) universally understood best reaction to that problem (i.e. move out of the way so the abulance can get where it needs to go). There is no decision to be made, if the ambulance is coming, I am suppose to get out of the way, simple as that.
4. Peer pressure that seem reasonable. Even if someone doesn't know what to do when an ambulance is coming (which we know happens because we see people fail to take proper action when an ambulance is coming), they can see everyone else around them pulling over. Then they can very easily see what they should do.
Decisions, discussions and behaviors in places like church, Congress, and class are much more difficult. Many more facts, no easy answers, lots of nuance, etc.
Andrew, I agree that discussion/decisions make it more time consuming to come together, but there are other situations that should be just as easy to assess that people don't cooperate in.
Example: Jenna and I riding our bikes home from campus.
Almost everyday we are buzzed by some guy/gal who is in so much of a hurry to get home that our safety/comfort doesn't even show up on their radar.
(Before I started commuting by bike I was way guilty of bike rage in the car.) The situation should go like this: "There is a bike...there is an approaching car...I should slow down so I don't run these poor folks off the road or risk hitting that car head on..."
Instead, it looks like this: "Stupid hippies! Get your green earth keisters off the road!...I can squeeze between them and that dump truck...I don't even need to slow down!...I've got places to be!"
Maybe a slight exaggeration, but why can't it be more like the first situation? It would take, at most, 60 seconds of your day to slow down and pass the bikers when it is safe. Also, it would make their commute more enjoyable and they would feel safer. Oh, and you won't run the risk of killing them or crushing their elbows with your side mirror.
So, why will people more readily get out of the way of an ambulance carrying a life that potentially needs to be saved, but aren't willing to slow down long enough to keep from endangering the life of someone else?
Aaron - I'm not sure if you example was suppose to be a counter example to something I said. However, I don't think it contradicts my points. I think the cycling example should fall under the ambulance example. This is just an example of people being impatient. Everyone knows they should slow down for the bike (most people I've seen do) - they just don't. Just like there are some idiots who don't pull over for ambulances.
Of course none of that changes the fact that you're still a dirty, tree-hugging hippie.
"Of course none of that changes the fact that you're still a dirty, tree-hugging hippie."
A valid point...
I was just asking why exactly people aren't as cooperative with bicycles as the are with ambulances.
I understand that there are other repercussions that come along with not pulling over for the flashing lights, but what about running someone off the road? Perhaps it's that they know there is nothing the commuter can do about it.
I've tried to run a car down on my bike to get their tag number and my flesh pistons just don't go that fast. Even if I did, what would I do with it?
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