Recently I saw local government operate well. After sitting at a standstill on the freeway for an hour behind a reportedly 30- car pile up, a man in a bright yellow neon jacket came up to our car and told me to turn around. I replied somewhat incredulously and suspiciously, “Who are you?” We had finished Wordle and Connections. We had listened to several plays of the football game. And caught each other up on the well-being of our loved ones. We were ready for some progress and/or at least the next diversion. Still this possibility seemed askance—deliberately drive north on south I-5?! It was a bit surreal, like a game, Sim-City maybe.
But car-by-car, we began to unlock the grid. One-by-one we collectively moved several hundred cars out of the huddle. It’s amazing to me that we could each do our part to unglue this puzzle and then, relatively quickly, move on with our lives. We corrected a mistake that had effected many, with no guns required. Just a simple peaceable direction, “Turn around.”
Maybe it’s naive to think any other problem can be solved this way. But that day I saw an example. Unexpectedly a quagmire grew and, just as unexpectedly, it was resolved. I am left thinking it is a-ok to hope for the best in other government situations. Especially when the alternative seems malevolent and so very stuck.
Always Bridging 