Thursday Thoughts: Up or Down?

Only a brief thought today, but one worth pondering.

The building is called life.  It is full of choices.  Every choice defines us.

In the lobby, there is an elevator.  It only has one button, and the arrow over the door points down.  There is no “Up” arrow.  The sign over the elevator says “Stupid.”

There is no ground floor under Stupid.  The elevator just keeps going down.

On the other side of the lobby is another elevator.  This one goes up only.  It is marked, “Brilliance.”

If you are inside the Brilliance elevator, you will notice that the control panel is rather odd.  There is one “Up” button.  But there is another, that is marked,  “Transfer to Stupid.”  It’s very easy to get off of the Brilliance elevator, and start going down to Stupid.

I am often prompted to think of this image at intersections.

Consider this.  Collisions require, at a minimum, two participants.  It’s always a group effort.  It’s not “narrow roads,” or the lack of shoulders and bike lanes.  Yes, good roads make it a bit easier to ride with brilliance.  But the feat can be pulled off on a cow path.  On the other hand, it is possible to hit the “Stupid Button” on any kind of road.  On any kind of bike.  On any day.  At any time.  And there is no ground floor under Stupid.