No excuse for stupid people!

I was driving home from Alderpoint yesterday. As will happen with people like me that like to live it the real world, I started thinking about the clueless people that I always seem to run into, or more likely they run into me. I often wonder how some people get through a single day without killing themselves or somebody near them. Some people are so unaware of their surroundings that a mountain lion could be sneaking up on them and they wouldn’t even know it. Can you imagine that? They surely wouldn’t have lived a single day back in the 1860’s. They are fortunate that they live in the here-and-now, where people are obligated to take care of the people around them. People constantly have to remind them: Don’t step in that hole! Watch out for that limb! Don’t trip! Hold onto the rail! Don’t put the batteries in backwards or it will explode! It goes on and on but you get the drift.

About half way up the hill I came upon a county road crew. I saw the flagman with a stop sign in his hand. I edged over to the shoulder of the road to leave room for oncoming traffic. I pulled right up next to him, leaving him room for comfort, but able to communicate. I’ve done plenty of flagging with the fire department, so I was thinking to myself how much he probably appreciated someone that knows what they are doing. I’m comfortable in most situations.

The traffic went through smoothly, because I had left them plenty of room. The flagman turned his sign around to slow. As I start to pull away, the flagman slowed me down, I expected him to thank me for knowing what I was doing, but he said. “Turn your lights on. It’s raining and it’s foggy on top”. I could tell by the look on his face what he was thinking, I have a talent for that. He was thinking: “Idiot, I don’t know how some people make it through a single day without killing themselves or somebody near them.” I thought about explaining that the blank look on my face was because I was deep in thought and I was not really oblivious. It just seemed like he wouldn’t have been interested.