I honestly believe you can learn all you need to know about a person based on how they behave in traffic generally, and toward other individual drivers in particular. As far as I can tell, most people have a basic sense of fairness and safety that inform how they drive. Others, for whatever reason, behave as though traffic is a game that they might win or lose, forcing them to either make life harder for an individual driver (for example speeding up to prevent merging in front, tailgating, intentional cutting off) or just plain blithely driving as though there are no fellow travelers on the highway to work. While most people will allow a driver "needing" to get over to change lanes in front of them (hopefully followed by the internationally recognized "thanks-a-bunch" wave), some will speed up as though allowing the merge puts them further behind in the game of Traffic Life.
This morning, just as I pulled onto the arterial street leaving my block, a pair of headlights came screaming up behind me from well over a quarter mile behind. Those headlights trailed me impatiently no further than five feet behind (objects are closer than they appear), for several turns to the next stop. I slowed to cross one of the two speed bumps installed in our neighborhood to chill traffic near an elementary school, and caught brief site in the rear view of a woman fervently saluting me with her middle finger. We approached the next intersection marking the first opportunity to split traffic leaving the neighborhood; I stayed on the arterial and had barely cleared the intersection when she blasted forward on the alternate route.
Now, I can be as intense as the next guy, but I've riding a nice calmness since training last night, and I thought to myself, "go ahead, you win." I proceeded on my way, made a couple of turns, and just as I approached the the intersection where the alternative side route rejoins the main one, she blasted through the stop sign, 15 feet in front of me, for all her effort. Only to be caught behind the Waste Management truck making make-up pickups in the neighborhood :-). And all of this happened within the first minute of driving this morning, well before I even started the I-5 shuffle.
So what the hell does this have to do with brazilian jiu jitsu? Well I was thinking about some comments I heard Joe Rogan make about the value of practicing BJJ; not for the purpose of becoming a badass, but for the purpose of learning that you just cannot know who is a badass. He said something like this:
“Jiu-Jitsu is good for you … It’s good to get your ass-kicked. It’s good for you to know how easy it is for a man to kick your ass too. It’s good for you to get destroyed. It’s good for you to get mounted and triangle choked. It’s good because you realize how easy it is for someone to do that to you. Because most people have no idea. They walk through this world having no idea of how some Marcelo Garcia character can just fuckin’ take your life any time he wanted to."
Now say what you will about Joe. I love him. He smokes a lot of dope and does stand-up for a living. So what. He's a bright, curious, thoughtful character, and a charismatic dude. And he makes a good point about humility that has everything to do with how people treat eachother when anonymously encased in a 2-ton metal and plastic coffin. If "RAV4-middle-finger-mom," or "borderline-IQ-lifted-pick-up-truck-guy" had a clue, they might travel the world with a little more humility, treat their fellow travelers with a little more basic courtesy (let alone respect), and have an easier day of it.
Joe's entire commentary can be seen here:
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