on the fringes in the fast lane

For the life of me I can’t remember if I have written about this.

Hi. My name is Justin, and I commute. For all of those commuters out there: I feel ya. Commuting sucks! There is no way around it: the thousands of people on the road, rush hour, road rage, bad drivers, fast drivers, slow drivers, accidents, construction, tolls, lane closures, flat tires, cut-offs, merging, detours, early mornings, rain, snow, etcetera. You get the point. If you have never commuted, consider yourself lucky. If you might in the future – avoid it at all costs.

There is something about being on the highway for two hours that just isn’t fun. And it pisses the heck out of me. Something about the wasted time on the road, the stopped traffic, and the bad, over-aggressive drivers just raises my blood-pressure to unhealthy levels. Is there something more than the bad drivers and traffic jams? As my spiritual director tells me, my frustration with traffic hints at part of the fringes of what is really going on in my life. Every time he says it to me I am thinking, “What the heck does that mean?” I still have not figured out what my fringes are. I have my ideas, but no conclusions.

But, what does this mean for the wider community? In the context of road rage, maybe there are a lot of people out there with issues unresolved. Stresses that cannot be controlled and a life that is not quite where they want it end up reflected on the road. In Chicago, where there are so many people it is easy to have road rage. Not just because of the mere immensity of traffic. But because of the mere immensity of traffic people know that when they cut someone off and drive illegally that whoever is on the receiving end of their stupidity is not someone they will ever have to see again. They also know car to police ratio is low enough and less important traffic incidents are less likely to invoke a ticket. So, it is easy to have road rage, because there are no repercussions for it. Also, the individualization of the car keeps people from real interaction with others. No one would act the same on the bus or train. The same rage on the road is not present there.

The road lets people act, unconsciously, how they are feeling. They can freely act out how they are feeling on the road. People now will forget the simple unwritten rules of the road. For example, the system of a “first in line goes first”. Safety for some reason is compromised on the road as well. People pass unsafely, cut-off, turn, and speed down the road. Some of the reasons for this are more simple. People are busy, busy, busy and as a society we just do more than what was done in the past. Whether it is bussing the kids around, parties, church meetings, or a sports game there is a lot going on. But at what cost? Many days I see car crashes on the side of the road, ambulances driving off, and lives lost.

On the fringes is meant to figure out the bigger picture, the picture of struggling people in life. As I look to the road I get less mad at aggressive and bad drivers. Where I was mad, I am stepping back now and thinking about it more and what it means in the bigger scope of my life and my relationship with God and neighbor. I have other fringes in life. What are your fringes?