Skip to main content

Give an Inch to Gain a Mile

Imagine with me, if you will, a non-railed causeway that is just wide enough for two cars to pass.

Now imagine that you are driving a car on that causeway when you look up and see another car coming at you.  You need to get to the other side.  They need to get to the other side.  It seems scary and dangerous to move over.  There's no railing, and a precipitous drop into the water awaits if you go too far.  As I see it, there are five options:

1) Back up until you get to the start of the causeway so that the other car can get past you and out of your way.
2) Force the other driver to back up until you can get past him.
3) Sit there bumper to bumper and don't go anywhere.
4) Try to shove the other car off the causeway.
5) Carefully move to the side while the other driver does the same in order to provide space for both cars to get where they're going.

Options 1 and 2 put one of the drivers in the position that they might encounter the same situation the next time they attempt to cross.  Option 3 prevents both drivers from arriving at their destination, all the while stopping traffic all the way back up the causeway.  Option 4, well, the damage to the cars, the loss of life, not to mention the crime committed in the process all seem to be bad ideas.

That leaves us with option 5.  Clearly it can be unsettling to move over and be so close to falling off the edge of the causeway, in whole or in part, but you know that there is enough space, and if both drivers are careful, if both drivers move, if they will work together, they will make it work and get where they want to go.  It might take a little time to get it right, but it will provide both parties the opportunity to get to their destinations.

Options 1-4 have clearly not worked.  It is time for our state and national representatives and senators to take option 5.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All for one?

Yesterday I was in a union meeting.  Among other things, a brief discussion was had about the evolution of individual contracts versus group contracts in particular among ballet and theater companies, not necessarily on the opera side of things.  It was pointed out that the movement began primarily because more and more dancers wanted to be seen as soloists in the troupe rather than "ensemble dancers", and they wanted to negotiate their own contracts accordingly.  Over time that has led to less negotiating power for dancers, ultimately developing into much lower pay, often the legal minimum salary for dancers. That led me to connect the dots between that devolution of solidarity in the ranks of ballet troupes where each had been a part of the braided fabric, strong and durable, to the political devolution we're starting to see around the world.  For some time now, countries have been murmuring about wanting out of the EU.  Granted, there are positives and nega...
Post a Comment
Read more

Strange start, I know

So, here I sit just killing a little time after reading articles about the Dallas Cowboys.  I took a few minutes to entertain other people's thoughts on the 2017 NFL Draft and am intrigued by several things, but one in particular stands out to me and I wanted to jot it down here and now. I know that the Browns are currently 0-for-2016, but they've been within one score in four of their games this year, and within two scores in four others, and there is good young talent there.  So, I am going to say here and now that the NFL better look out for them next season.  As long as they do well with their picks in 2017, they will be an incredibly talented group next year.  With FIVE picks in the top 65 of the draft they could possibly wind up with four or five first-round talents, depending on slippage and preferences of other teams.  So, I'm just saying it here, mid-December 2016, watch out for the 2017 Cleveland Browns! Stranger things have happened! (see Election...
Post a Comment
Read more

Let it Go

In case you missed it, a major turning point in the movie Frozen  is the song "Let it Go".  It is during this song where Elsa literally takes off the gloves and lets her special power come out.  What results is spectacular.  While she still feels strange or dangerous, it is at this time that she starts to at least be able to grapple with the reality of what she can do and she begins learning how to harness the power that she has.  I feel like Hillary Clinton needs to embrace what she really is at this point, a failed and defeated presidential candidate, and let it go. I won't go into the myriad reasons people enumerate as to why Clinton lost the presidency.  You can find those on YouTube or the nightly news archives.  What I will say is that it is my opinion that, though Hillary's presence on TV talking about likely Russian involvement in the election, the sexism she feels is still alive and well, or any other perceived reason she was defeated might ...
Post a Comment
Read more