In this entry on Life Here and There, I will be upfront and say this one favors the Filipinos. There are some very basics to wisdom that most people should have. Nearly all Filipinos succeed in this category. (walang kokontra!)

What category am I talking about? The category is you do not tempt fate by putting yourself in front of fast moving vehicles. In the Philippines, walking in front of cars traveling at 35 mph or riding a bicycle in the middle of the road is a great way to get you killed. It doesn’t matter who you are, your station in life, who you know, or any other factor. We understand that putting your flesh and bones in front of 1 ton of hurtling steel will kill you. Simple logic really, car meets pedestrian. The cars will splat the pedestrian. It really is a simple piece of wisdom.

However, it is a piece of wisdom that is increasingly lost on a growing number of Americans. It doesn’t matter what the laws of the road are. The basic law of mass will always beat out any of the legal laws. The ‘law of mass’ is if the vehicle is bigger – it wins. Train beats truck. Truck beats car. Car beats bicycle. Bicycle beats pedestrian. Heck everything else can turn the pedestrian into a splat on the road.

So what have we seen? Yesterday, two brilliant young teenage boys thought it was a good idea to ride up a hill on a busy road in front of the court house in the oncoming lane. My husband and the car behind him both had to slam on the brakes to avoid killing these idiots. They were luck they weren’t 20 ft further up the hill or my hubby would have met them at the top of the hill not expecting those idiots were there.

We’ve also seen people walk through traffic moving at 40 mph without a concern. Another bicyclist opted to ride on the very busy 4 lane road in our city while swerving in and out of the lanes because she just had to talk on the cell phone. I almost hit that one.

Many Americans are in sore need of traveling to a different country so they can begin to understand some of the most basic wisdom on this planet.

Saying “If you hit me, I’ll sue” is really pointless if you are dead because of doing something stupid. Not everyone will stop for the idiots who put their lives in danger while breaking the law.

Anah

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