By Natalie Hill, center spread editor
Every Tuesday and Thursday, I reluctantly roll out of bed to make my way to North Lake Community College – North Campus. Normally about 30 minutes before class starts, I manage to open my eyes and can make my way to my car about ten minutes after.
Always toeing the line of lateness to my duel credit government class, I find myself sitting at the lights and stop signs on Sandy Lake Road, infuriated with the engineers, or who ever designed the road. Why would they allow the light leaving a neighborhood stay green just as long as the main street light? And then it hit me…
How is this light controlling me? WHY am I sitting here? No one is coming out of this neighborhood, no one can see if I ran this light, which would probably erase 5 minutes off of my trip thus avoiding the eye-daggers from my government teacher if I were to walk in late.
Of course, I didn’t run the red light. I knew that I’d rather be late to class than get a ticket from the omnipresent Coppell cop sitting his motorcycle around the corner, ready to pounce on the wrong-doers of this small town. But after I waited another 45 seconds for the red light (which I’m sure was mocking me as I counted down the seconds until my class started) to turn green, I was angered with myself that I didn’t rebel against this inanimate object and that I allowed it to boss me around.
I’m completely aware that I would have broken the law if I were to run the light but it made me think about the ability for Americans to be molded. We, apart from the mavericks who willing choose to disobey the law and run the red light, are committed to yielding when the yellow triangle sign appears on the road or slowing to 20 MPH because the School Zone light has begun flashing.
What if, hypothetically, the red light where a communist controller? A long shot, I know. But if we’re so reluctant to obeying a sign or the bending of light into color, then what would it take to buckle under a power-hungry soon-to-be dictator on a mission? Not much, I decided, as I pulled into the North Lake parking lot, arriving about two minutes before class began.
We are weak and moldable. I’m not saying to go around screaming at stop signs “YOU’RE A DICTATOR!” Please, obey the law; don’t embarrass yourself. But, I am confident that after reading this blog, you’ll second-guess your motives as you slow to a stop as you approach your next traffic light.
