The world is not a parking lot.
Much of what we see around us is covered with roads. Roads have cars. Cars have the potential to roll atop pedestrians, therefore causing bodily harm, injury, and, quite possibly, death.
So, when did it become commonplace for everyone around me to cross roads, or stand in traffic as though they were waiting for Grandma in the Wal-Mart parking lot?
It became very apparent a few years ago that parking lot etiquette had changed with the influx of the big box store. Once all the major retailers opened such huge doors on the front of their buildings, waves of people began to pour in and out, and then there was mass pandemonium in the parking lot. No one looks before they walk into traffic now, they just walk to their car. oblivious to anything that may be happening around them.
I accept that. I don't drive very quickly in parking lots to begin with, and I'm not too worried about running someone over.
I can see the little fifteen-year-old texting or playing video games, not looking up, and wading through lane after lane of parked vehicles as though in a fog, and not feel the need to drive towards them or hinder their progress in any way. There is always another spot, and I don't mind walking a few more yards to get to the store.
But, really - when did it become the acceptable thing to just barge into highway or downtown traffic expecting the drivers all around you to take notice and halt? When did America's youth decide that autos were instructed to come to a complete stop in traffic once their pedestrianic enclave decided to migrate from the coffee shop to the corner store?
That's all I want to know.
The world is not a parking lot. It's much more road.
| Kingsport Christmas Tree Lighting | |
| Held on Saturday, December 4, 2010. The Sevier Middle School orchestra played in the progress building at 6:00. The gingerbread house exhibit was held at the Regions bank. Music, reading of the Christmas Story, hot chocolate, hot apple cider and cookies, sing-a-long where held at Church Circle. |