If the collective citizenry behaved coherently, we would stay home until the roads thaw, or at the very least make the treks to our destinations very, very slowly and deliberately.
But we do not behave coherently, do we? We rush. We hurry. We act as if getting to work were highly important. For very few of us, it is. For most of us, it pales in comparison to staying alive, uninjured, and in possession of vehicles that remain undamaged by collisions on icy roads.
Yet still we hurry and buzz about as if the world might end if we don't make it to the office on time. Why is that? It's because we worry about what someone else will think about us. And because we permit someone else to control us. The boss won't like it if we're late. The client won't understand why we don't answer the phone. The customer won't tolerate our acts of self-preservation that, coincidentally, will make us temporarily unavailable to address his issues.
I'm just as guilty as the nice person. It's 6:02, yet I'm thinking I need to leave early to give myself extra time to get to the office on time. And I'm wondering whether everyone will make it in today...if I can do it, so can they. It's a cycle of its own making.
There's a better way, such as telephone systems that allow remote answering, etc. Every year when the inevitable snow and ice threaten to make travel to the office treacherous, I consider what I need to do to address the issue next year so neither I nor my staff will have to take our lives into our hands to satisfy the expectations of the world around us.
Now. Now. Now. Now.
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