Traffic Jam

Americans have been sold on the idea of individual freedom and autonomy. But even though we believe in autonomy, we often fail to exercise it. As social animals, we are capable of acting as individuals, but more often than not we are heavily influenced by the people around us. We tend to run with the herd.

For instance, if we’re honest with ourselves, there’s a fairly narrow band of what we’re willing to say or do in public. We may think we’re exercising our autonomy when we get dressed in the morning, but every piece of clothing we put on helps slot us into a specific place in the herd. 

It’s so easy to criticize the way “people” are and then throw up our hands in helplessness when we find ourselves behaving in the exact same way. We lament that everyone is on their phones constantly, when we wouldn’t be caught dead without our own. We voice dismay at partisan politics, then immediately blame it on the other side. We fret about plastics waste in the environment, then we buy bottled water by the case.

I’ve done all of those things, so I’m not pointing fingers here. If anything, this is a reminder to myself that the way to exercise choices in life is to remember that we have them. 

We aren’t stuck in traffic--we are traffic. Unless we’re willing to get off the freeway, do we really have the right to complain?