Rolling through Life’s Stop Signs

There is an intersection behind our home that has stop signs on two of the directions across a main road.  It’s amazing to me to watch as motorists coming from the directions with the stop signs routinely slow but then roll completely through without stopping; some in fact hardly slow down at all.  There have been many a close encounter as people seem to ignore the warning or fail to yield to those with the right of way.

There’s an interesting parallel for me between those motorists and people that simply roll through the stop signs of life.  How often in our busy lives we ignore the warning signs that tell us to slow down, come to a complete stop, yield to oncoming traffic then proceed only when the way is safe.  Life like driving is full of caution signs designed to keep others and ourselves safe, yet we seem to routinely ignore them or we’re so caught up in ourselves that we don’t even notice them.  People not paying attention and running headlong into an intersection often cause accidents and put others and themselves in harm’s way.  People who ignore life’s warning signs likewise can end up ruining lives, most often their own.

Life is full of warning signs like listening to our bodies when they tell us to slow down or stop because what we are doing is causing harm.  In our relationships, we often dismiss words from others as nagging instead of interpreting them as warnings that what we are doing is damaging.  I know I have been guilty all too often of blowing off the concerns from my wife with a “yeah-yeah” response when she is saying, slow down, pay attention, and love me.  In organizations, managers quickly throw aside an employee’s comments as complaining or whining instead of pausing long enough to assess if there is a real problem to be addressed.  Yet like the myriad of traffic signals and signs on the roads we travel, we may skate by for a while ignoring them, but sooner or later we’re bound to get caught either by an observant police official or worse, an accident.  Life has a way of grabbing our attention sooner or later.

We all have times in our lives when we’re so preoccupied with what’s happening to us that we easily miss the signals.  It’s when we believe that our own time is too precious, that we’re too busy, or that we’re too 'important' to yield (the sign is meant for the other people, not me), that we become truly dangerous on the road of life.  We’ve all seen people like that on the highway behaving as if ‘their’ purpose is higher than the safety of others around them.  Such recklessness needlessly rattles and irritates others as well as puts everyone in danger.  Managers can be just like that and create a path of destruction where employees are simply scrambling to get out of their way.  In extreme examples, ‘road rage’ can become deadly.  I’ve seen far too many organizations where the environment created by a manager or team is so toxic, that lives are destroyed or damaged beyond repair; the vehicle has been totaled. 

Being an attentive driver and respecting others on the road is not only a legal obligation, it speaks clearly of your concern and respect for others.  Road signs are there to remind us to be safe and guide us on our journey so we arrive without harm and without harming others.  When we are mindful and alert in life, we are more likely to notice the signs before us and heed their warning.  Ignoring life’s traffic signs is a sure way to put others and ourselves at risk.  So next time you roll up to a stop sign, take the time to come to a complete stop, carefully observe your surroundings, then proceed once it’s safe to do so.  If you can do so while you’re on the road, perhaps that habit will rub off on your personal life and you’ll be less likely to ignore the signs when they appear.