A Bumpy Shoulder is Better Than No Shoulder

The other day while driving to work, I believed I would either be a witness to tragedy or an innocent victim. For perspective, I was in the middle lane of three-lane US-65, heading northbound. Which for a tense stretch, has one-and-a-half lanes of vehicles merging onto the highway; in other words five lanes narrow to three.

A 16-wheeler in the far left fast-lane passes me, barreling down the highway going at least 70 mph in a 60-mph zone. It then quickly changes lanes. Like a race car driver. The truck is directly in front of me, and it again changes lanes. Jumping to the slower far right lane, behind another 16-wheeler. The large trailer literally rocks. Surely there were streaks of light between those wheels and the pavement.

Again, the lawless trucker switches lanes, to the farthest right temporary merging lane, to what he doesn't realize is basically no lane. Lawless deserves a ticket for reckless driving. The unexpected quick ending of the merge lane turns into a wider than average paved shoulder, for just a temporary stretch.

Tightening my grip on the steering wheel, I am aghast! The two large 16-wheelers are neck-and-neck. Their doors are so close to each other that, for a moment, their side-view mirrors appear conjoined. The tires of Lawless barely hold to the highway's ever-diminishing shoulder, in a narrowing merge lane, approaching a bridge where his lane vanishes. Steady, Lawless’ conjoined trucker, remains to his left. But Lawless fails to slow down and yield as he should. He turns an already dangerous situation into daredevil.

Stuck between a rock-and-a-tight-place, Lawless and Steady will either crash-and-burn or they will somehow survive. A brief Now-and-Not-Yet quickly becomes a Now-or-Never moment. Instead of decreasing his mph chaos, merge-lane-heading-for-too-narrow-for-a-16-wheeler-bridge Lawless increases his speed. His tires shoot debris. He takes the phrase "Never give up" to as close to criminal as possible.

Sane Steady has no choice but to hold back and considerably reduce his speed to prevent disaster. All somehow plays out within the span of a few nail-biting moments. Lawless speeds away, on the main road again, and his counterpart Steady is trump-ed.

Few could deny that watching 2016's politically-fired evening news feels nail-biting similar. Two political forces barrel down the highway. Steady: Born-ready.  Lawless [in my opinion, selfish]: Born maniac?!? Dangerous Lawless is not about to give in... and sadly, our country will never be the same.

For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work;
but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so'til he is taken out of the way.

(2 Thessalonians 2:7)