JUST SLOW DOWN!!

Every morning I see people crossing the street when they shouldn't. You know the "do not cross" red hand is up and there is a green light for the cars. Invariably, the person crosses the street just as the people in the cars realize they have a green light, honking ensues, and everyone is stressed out. Except, usually, for the person who crossed the street. Either they pretend like nothing is going on or I've seen a few actually hit a car that's honking at them and cusses the person in the car out. Which always makes me think, don't you realize you were in the wrong? Maybe they do, maybe they don't. People make mistakes and think they have a walk signal not a do not cross signal sometimes, I suppose. And yes, the pedestrian is always supposed to have the right-away, but what about the people who KNOW they weren't supposed to cross? Do they feel guilty or just sneaky? Like they got away with something?

I think the root of this has to do with people always being in a hurry. Someone crosses the street when they're not supposed to because they're late to this or that. Or maybe they're not late - they just figure, why wait my turn when I don't have to? I almost get run over by other pedestrians daily, because I'm a slow walker. I can sometimes imagine what they're thinking. "Hurry up! Go faster! Get out of my way!"

And I'm guilty of this too. I've gotten right up on other walkers' shoulders before who were going slowly. I've been impatient. I've even crossed the street when the red hand was up (but only if I've checked a both ways to make sure there's not a car nearby.)

But usually when I'm all crazy and frenzied, I try to think, "Why am I in such a hurry?" Do I have a good reason? If not, what's wrong with slowing down a little bit? Taking in the scenery?

Why are people (especially in urban environments) always in such a hurry? It reminds me of when I was 16 and heard people talking about speeding vs. not speeding (it usually happened after one of us got a speeding ticket.) You speed one day and then you don't speed the other day. The day you speed, you only get there like five minutes before the day when you don't speed. So you might be a little bit tardy, but is it that big of a deal? Not usually. You just say, I hit traffic, and I'm sorry I'm late. Then you leave five minutes earlier the next day.

So is it worth stressing yourself and everyone else out around you to get someplace a measly five minutes early? Is it worth possibly getting hit by a bus or getting in a car wreck?

Why do we humans rush so much? What in our psychology causes us to do that? Or is it simply societal pressure? If more emphasis was made on slowing down, would we have fewer accidents and less incidents of stress-related disease? How do we advocate for people to JUST SLOW DOWN?? If anyone has any ideas, let me know.