Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Turtles and Dancing Men!

There are any numbers of reasons for traffic problems in the middle Tennessee area. Car accidents. Stalled cars. Police cruisers waiting patiently for that speeding bullet that just passed you. Construction. Country Music stars. The President of the United States dropping by on his way to the White House. Rain. Snow. The threat of snow. The very idea that some precipitation other than sunshine will fall to the earth. Any number of reasons. Let’s add one more…

Turtles.

That’s right. I said it. Turtles. Those happy little cartoon characters that slowly move across the roadways of life. The Victor over the mad cap rabbit! The aged character that led the young man to Mr. Owl to determine how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop!

You with me now?

You can now add to the long list of turtle accomplishments… stopping traffic.

The nature-loving idiot I came upon had blocked traffic on a two lane road in order to allow the turtle to get from one side to the other. Yes. Blocked traffic. Both ways. The stopped cars sat idle whilst their drivers (I am one of those) stared in amazement at the spectacle.

Oh, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking what a great guy he is. What a nature lover. What an earthy fellow. Don’t be fooled. This man could EASILY pick up said turtle and place him in the tall grassy field. It’s not like he couldn’t catch him. It’s not like he was greased up from some sort of pig wrastlin’ competition.

But no. Instead, our turtle’s hero gently nudged him along. He was probably worried about affecting the turtle’s Zen or something.

I wanted to go out and shoot something. But I held off.

The next sight I saw warmed my now cold and frosty heart. I was sitting at a red light this morning when a movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention. In the BMW to my left was an adult man, in his early 40s with a little boy in a car seat. The two of these men were just singing away with each other. I don’t know what the song was… but there were hand motions and Father and Son were having a great time! It was a wonderful moment to see.

It restored my faith that man was not a bumbling idiot bent upon causing traffic accidents to watch a turtle cross the road.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh you're just bitter because its a turtle. Ya know, you should fear the turtle. bwa-hahahahahahahahaha

Shay said...

High-five on that last statement Cathy!!

Unknown said...

But I just gotta ask...Why did the turtle cross the road?

Mary said...

If that's not a cause for road rage, I don't know what is. Thank goodness for the redeeming sight of father and son singing together. Amazing.