Perception Altering Moment

I have become aware of the fact I use "it was a life-changing experience" far too often.  The truth is that when I use that phrase, it  really was a "life-changing experience."  It has  occurred  to me though that if I use the terminology too often, then it loses its value.  People roll their eyes. I mean how many "life-changing experiences" can one person  have in a lifetime?

I want to argue before I make my point that all day every day are life-changing experiences. Assuming that none of these things happened to you today, you didn't get broadsided by a dump truck that ran a stop sign.  You didn't get food poisoning from the restaurant where you ate lunch. You didn't miss the curb walking into the store and break both wrists.  You nor your spouse had a heart attack or a stroke.  Obviously this list could get very long. And you see what I'm saying.  Our lives change constantly. Or don't change constantly as the case may be. Either way it's life changing.

This afternoon something happened that I'm tempted to tell you was "a life-changing experience."  On my way home from the conversation I decided instead to call it "a perception altering moment, a PAM

I have a really bad habit of being concerned about things that are literally none of my concern. I let situations and events bother me that shouldn't bother me. But they do.

I had a meeting this afternoon with a woman who works for the Chattanooga Transportation Planning Organization.  I presented a few ideas on how I think several of our daily traffic tie-ups could be helped.  Early in the conversation she let me know that I was talking to the wrong person, that these issues were not issues she could do anything about.  But she did say that she would pass my ideas along to a local representative with the Tennessee Department  of   Transportation. In doing so my suggestions had gone full circle. An email to TDOT resulted in a referral to the Georgia Department of Transportation.   GDOT then referred me to the Chattanooga Transportation Planning Organization. She told me that she would let this TDOT regional representative know that I had some good ideas and suggest that he meet with me to hear me out.

So where's the PAM?  It's coming. Although she let me know that she couldn't help me, she then spent about an hour discussing what her organization does in Chattanooga and some of the intricacies of transportation at the local, state and federal levels. I even learned that there is a "Bible" of transportation planning. The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) controls everything.  Nothing happens in transportation on the federal or state level that is not authorized by this manual.  The Federal Highway Administration published this manual in 1936. It celebrated it's 80th anniversary on November 7th, 2015. The latest edition was published in 2009 with revisions in 2012. Can you imagine what traffic was like in 1936 and yet this manual is still the standard today?

All that being said, here's the PAM. She told me the story of the lengthy process and the hoops they had to jump through to get directional signs in Chattanooga for the then new Tennessee Aquarium. All they wanted to do was to let people know how to get from Highway 27 to the aquarium(about four blocks).   I asked her, "Isn't that frustrating knowing some simple thing that needs to be done and you have to go through all the red tape to do it?"  She said, "It's not frustrating at all.  I'm not a traffic engineer. They understand the whole situation and I don't. If they took my ideas somebody could get killed. I let them figure it out".   PAM !!!

"They understand the situation and I don't."  Do you understand how marvelously freeing this is?  I can let things go to higher powers.  I not only can't fix it, but I shouldn't try to fix it.  I should forget about it and think about something else.  I should be concerned about something else.  Or not.

I drove to downtown Chattanooga with the full intention of affecting the traffic flow on two major interstates that converge in Chattanooga.  Yes, I actually thought I could do that. It really is a good idea.  I mean don't little people do big things every day? And I may still can, but that's not the point.  The point is that it's probably  not be mine to fix.  There are thousands of people in two states who know that "Bible" chapter and verse, who have the authority and  the ability to make these necessary changes.

I'm taking the night off from all major decisions and all Herculean efforts.  But tomorrow when I read the news and am tempted to be concerned about things that don't concern me or I'm even horrified by some world situation, I'm going to say "I'm not God.  He understands the situation and I don't.  I'm going to let Him handle it. If He took my suggestion it would probably get much worse. I'm going to let Him fix it.".  Then I'm going to read a good novel.