My family and I live in a small town just 3 miles north of another small town, and there are two one-lane bridges that we frequently use. It’s easy to get impatient—you’re running late and the vehicle you are waiting for is a bus or a large farming truck. Or the ducks, who reside on the stream the one-lane bridge covers, waddle slowly across with a brood of ducklings following behind, sometimes as many as 9.
Then there’s the inevitable rule-bender. Yes, there’s an unwritten rule when it comes to one-lane bridges, a basic principle instilled in us from very young, that is, take turns. But the rule-bender doesn’t heed and barrels through on the tail of the car in front of him because his schedule is ever so much more important that yours. When he passes you, he does not wave or look you in the eye even though he comes within feet of your very face.
But the rule-bender is not the norm. It amazes me that in our hurry-up-and-get-there world, people typically do make eye contact as they pass you waiting for your turn. Some do the nod-wave. Some put up an index finger in acknowledgement, and some do the full-hand wave and maybe even add a smile. These small town courtesies are reasons for my sadness when I heard the county was deciding to repair one of the one-lane bridges we frequent. True, it’s getting old and when you go over it at times you wonder if it’s going to hold. True, it’s inconvenient. True, it slows you down.
But isn’t it rare that we are made to slow down? Isn’t it rare that we make friendly eye contact with strangers? And isn’t it nice and decent that through our eye contact, our nods, our waves, our smiles, we say, “Hey, thanks whoever-you-are, for waiting for me?”
I, for one, am sad that the bridge will now be wider and faster and more efficient. I will miss the nods and waves, but only for a time. Soon the tiny one-lane bridge will be a distant memory. I’ll cross over the trickling stream—I’m sure going faster than I should—without seeing the ducks or the ducklings or even remembering that I used to have to wait to cross. I won’t even remember my annoyance at the rule-bender who wouldn’t take his turn.
treadmilltalks 