It’s 7:40 a.m. and I am driving south on Haddonfield Road. As I pass the Cherry Hill Mall, I get caught by two red lights, despite the fact that the mall is closed and there is no cross traffic whatsoever. So there is a line of cars sitting, idling, wasting gas, for absolutely no reason except that for some reason we do not have the money to fund an intelligent traffic control system. However, we do have the money to burn gasoline while uselessly idling.
Multiply this by millions of traffic lights in this country, and you get an idea of the amount of gas we waste every day. The irony is, addressing this by improving traffic flow would hardly be a painful solution. On the contrary, it would make everyone’s commute faster. Seems like a win-win situation, especially in view of the fact that dependence on foreign oil is hardly a good thing, right?
The problem is … every time I hit these lights I repeat this same argument in my head. And despite how forcefully or brilliantly I argue the point to myself (I try to keep my lips from moving while I am in the car) the light steadfastly refuses to turn green any time sooner.
It has taken 53 years for this fact of life to sink in. Most of the running commentary in my mind is useless. Now I can certainly write my representative, my local newspaper, or join a conservation group, and take some action. But most of the energy I spend grousing over this matter is purely wasted.
So why don’t I do these things, take some action, but when I am not in control of my immediate situation, learn how to just let it go?
Sometimes when I am in traffic, I picture a long line of ants doing … well … whatever it is ants do. And I picture one of those ants grousing about how slow the ant in front of him is, and why are they building this ant hill anyway, and did you see how that one ant cut him off. The image is so absurd. How self-important that ant is, considering how powerless he is. Of course, I am that ant. That image always brings a smile to my face and I relax.
It all comes down to the serenity prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
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This is timely. I was just reading the latest issue of Newsweek and there was a short piece on the environment--"How Green Are You?" Check out www.gocarbonzero.com to find out how much energy we all use in our daily lives.
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