A Right Turn

A few days ago I was behind a man on a Harley when he did something that I have not seen in years.  He flipped on his turn signal to make a right turn, but he also put out his left arm, bent upwards at the elbow, to signal a right turn.  Back in the day, before motorcycles had turn signals, we signaled every turn with our left arm.  Left arm bent upwards at the elbow--right turn.  Left arm straight out--left turn.  I had stopped riding motorcycles long before the turn signal, but if I did have a motorcycle I'm sure I'd be doing exactly like the Harley rider did, using all available methods to signal a turn. One cannot be too careful on two wheels.

Besides a physical right turn in our vehicle, turning right metaphorically has come to mean several different things.  Turning right can mean setting off in a new direction.  It can mean making necessary changes in our lives.  Turning right can also mean giving up bad habits or deadly addictions. We arrived at this image no doubt from right as opposed to wrong.  Isn't being right always the best option?

The political and religious worlds also include movement to the right.  In politics, if someone is moving to the right then they are becoming more conservative than they already are.  In the context of religion and theology, movement to the right usually indicates becoming even more dogmatic regarding specific religious beliefs.  Moving to the right doesn't make this person a religious fundamentalist; he could be a raging liberal, move right to a position closer to the middle and still be a liberal.

The words "conservative" and "liberal" have no inherent meaning.  They only have meaning in context with the other.  You can't be "a conservative" just as you can't be a "liberal." A conservative can only be conservative in relation to something else. The same is true for a liberal.A conservative is to the right of a liberal and a liberal is to the left of a conservative.  You can't be either one without the other.  Yin/yang. Yin doesn't exist without yang and yang doesn't exist without yin. Someone said that no matter how far to the right you move, the person immediately to your left is a liberal.  And then a self-described conservative said to me in response,  "And no matter how far to the left you move, the person immediately to your right is a nut job". Touche!

When the man on the Harley-Davidson put out his left arm and bent it to the sky,  I'm quite sure he had no idea it would inspire the person behind him to deep thought and reflection.  More importantly though, it inspired me to slow down and give him room to turn, which I'm quite sure was his intention. But he did, in fact, inspire me to deep thought and reflection. He made me  thankful that I never had an accident on my Cushman Silver Eagle.  I certainly had many opportunities for injury or death. He reminded me that although something isn't required for personal safety, many times it's a good idea. Why not use two different turn signals?  It doesn't require much effort and could make a difference.

Metaphorically, regardless of your political and religious persuasion, being right doesn't make you wrong and being left doesn't make you right.