I spend a lot of time walking around downtown Seattle, to and from work, going out or whatnot. Invariably, and almost without exception I see a car honk at another or a pedestrian yelling at a driver. Not to mention all the bike/car interactions.
The thing is, I don't understand why everybody is so stressed. Sure in some cases, especially the bike/car conflicts, there very well might be some physical harm possible, but most of the time it's something simple.
Today on my way in, I witnessed a driver who was going slowly get a huge honk from someone behind them. It was quite obvious Mr Slow was lost and wasn't quite sure whether the upcoming intersection was the one he wanted to turn in. But did Mr Speedy really need to honk? I mean, how much time did he lose? 5 seconds? Maybe 10? What exactly did he gain by honking apart from raising his blood pressure and likely the other drivers?
The other day I saw a similar interaction with a pedestrian yelling at a car for being in the crosswalk. It was quite obvious she (the driver) was trying to take a right turn and didn't realize she would be in the crosswalk so long. But again, did the pedestrian really have to create such a negative experience for everybody involved? Was it such a big deal to walk 2 feet over to walk around the car?
Sometimes you don't even need to do anything wrong. I was waiting for a bus a few days ago and a fellow warned a guy standing in the street that a car was backing up to park. The potential victim responded "I don't fucking care, if they can't drive I'll sue them." in a really aggressive tone. What in the world? Here you have someone actually going out of their way to look out for you and you respond like that? This was one case where I wished I would have spoken up in defense of the good Samaritan.
I just don't get it. People get so stressed over the smallest inconsequential things. Why don't we all take a deep breath, relax and remember that we create the world we live in. All that negative energy you put out there shapes the world.
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