Rain, Rain, Go Away!

So, folks, it's been a long time.  I mean a really long time, like, a "two-month" long time.  I apologize.  I fell off the world during that time.

Today in Beijing it rained.  "Big deal," you say, brushing the news aside.  Yeah, it is a big deal!  It normally takes my dad and I about 25 minutes to get me to where I work.  It took us 45 minutes to get one block.  All of this because of rain.  Well, it's nice to blame the weather because you can't be called insensitive if you criticize it.  You can if you blame the actual problem: the drivers' etiquette, or lack thereof.

When people talk about repression and the denial of freedoms being an inherently insidious thing, they were clearly living in some fantasy world.  Some people are just not interested in living democratically and taking the initiative to fix things.  It's not their "thing."  

The traffic jam that I was trapped in was not due to a car accident, or a fallen tree.  It was because the drivers were not willing to work together.  They were all focused on getting themselves through the intersection, regardless of how it was accomplished.  No one would yield to another.  No one was willing to give an inch of ground.  In fact, many were taking inches that weren't there to take in the first place!  It was like watching a bunch of kindergartners scramble after a handful of Skittles thrown on the ground; complete and utter chaos!

From this isolated example, it does not seem like democracy would work for those several dozen drivers, as they just didn't care about the welfare of others or the advancement of a group, and coincidentally it applies in the literal sense as well.  They only wanted to focus on them and theirs.  There was no "working for the common good."  In fact, less freedom, harsher rules, and more punishment for the violation of them would have been the best solution to the issue at hand.

Wait, with the whole "focusing on them and theirs" thing has jogged my memory; that's just what it's like in most democratic societies anyway!

Never mind, everyone.

"Muddah, Faddah, kindly disregard this letter."