Merging Voices

The central scripture of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib, proposes this on selfishness:

"Give up your selfishness, and you shall find peace; like water mingling with water, you shall merge in absorption."

Applying ancient Sikh wisdom to a twenty first century rush hour lane merge is not so simple.

A friend posted this animation of an idealized zipper merge fearlessly defying a

dictum of decorum: Never discuss religion, politics, or the zipper merge.

Regrettably I am unable to elevate my consciousness to the zipper side.

I know rivers were carved and scoured by eons of rushing water.

"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it." — Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

Like Maclean, I know that rivers flow over rocks from the basement of time, but a merging traffic lane is a more immediate than the epochs of geology.

A voice on my left shoulder says,

"You've moved 10 feet in 20 minutes, yet that fucker wants to cut in front of you? Inch up man! Inch up!"

A voice on my right shoulder reasons,

"Go ahead merge at the last second in front of all of those poor schlubs. Studies show it's the most efficient means of funneling traffic."

Both voices make sense, but in the immediacy of the moment my emotional left shoulder overrules my logical right.

The good news is that I left all of this traffic madness behind over a year ago when I decided to leave the twentieth century parked at home in the garage. I've opted instead for foot, bike, bus, and light rail.

Here's a picture of me commuting on foot...no filter.

The Scream