Is the World Broken?

I’ve been upset this week, and I haven’t been able to figure out why until today.�� I live on the edge of a metropolitan area and have to wind my way towards downtown each weekday to my job.�� Not far from my house is an elementary school.�� The school zone speed limit when the little yellow light is blinking is��15 mph.�� That’s okay.�� I have no problem with that.�� And it’s nice to see other people respecting that law.

For years, someone (either a local police officer or��a school official) has been on the street directing traffic.�� I didn’t like that because I thought it was unnecessary.�� Except for people dropping off or picking up their kids, there wasn’t much other traffic.�� Surely people were smart enough not to crash into each other or do donuts in the school parking lot.

Then it happened.�� For the last three months, no one has been directing traffic.�� We drivers were left to our own devices to keep the cars and SUVs moving in a safe and orderly fashion.�� And it worked!�� For a while.

After a couple of months, some people decided it was necessary to speed things along.�� They began using two lanes instead of one to exit the school parking lot in the same direction, with two cars trying to turn onto a single lane street.�� Obviously they thought if they passed up three whole cars and cut in front of a fourth then they would get to their destination so much faster.�� There were no accidents.�� I witnessed no unruly behavior.�� I’m sure some people got irritated by these people’s actions, but nothing bad happened.

But it bothered me.�� When our youngest daughter was in the third grade (a different school in a different town than where we now live), a boy riding a bicycle was accidently hit by a school bus turning into the school parking lot and was killed.�� It was horrible.�� The bus driver was not at fault.�� The kid didn’t slow down at the entrance and didn’t look to see if anyone was coming.�� It made everyone aware of how easy it is to end the life of a child.

A county police car began sitting near the entrance of the school parking lot that I now pass every weekday.�� The officer does not direct traffic, but just being present makes a difference in all the drivers’ behavior.�� I find that sad.�� Why should we have to rely on a police officer to keep people from being jerks?�� These are parents dropping off their children.�� Do they not see how fragile they are?�� Why does it have to take a horrible accident that takes the life of a child to make people do what they should be doing in the first place?

I heard someone say recently that the world is broken.�� Well, if it is then we are the ones who broke it.�� And we’re the only ones that can fix it.�� We just have to be willing to do 15 mph in a school zone when that little yellow light is blinking.