Hope and the Flipside of the Coin

So this morning, at 8:40 am, I thought of the most wonderful post. I dropped off the hubby, did my time at the gym, excited to come home and post. A mere hour later, I experienced the other side of my post... so I thought I'd share both with you. It's fall here. I think it's fall mostly everywhere else too, but fall in the city means something very strange and mysterious. Crossing Guards. It is incumbent on the Jersey City Crossing Guard to direct traffic at times, in order to get their charges safely across the road. Unfortunately, as with most Jersey City citizens, the crossing guards do not know traffic laws. (I am beginning to believe there are no actual traffic laws in Jersey City...) However, on this bright and beautiful morning, I saw something amazing. There are two lights in a row that have left turn arrows. Purposely, to allow those cars to turn left unimpeded (the idea behind the brilliant left turn arrow) the crosswalk signs remain at "Don't Walk." Usually people ignore this and, seeing that the light is red on their side, they begin to walk, holding up the left turning people, making them angry so that they try to force their way into the intersection even beyond their left turn arrow and they in turn block up oncoming traffic, because by this time, more people have showed up at the crosswalk and by now the sign says "Walk" so they do. I hate traffic. BUT TODAY!!! A lovely crossing guard held our her stop sign forcing the 2 people waiting at the cross walk to wait until the green arrow had gone to yellow! She looked to see that there were no more cars waiting to turn left, and only then did she let her charges cross the street!! I am praying heaps of blessings down on her head right now. Mind you, I didn't turn left until the next intersection, but to see that there was common sense in existence in Jersey City was a miracle. But then. My hope for the good of all that is common sensical here in Jersey City was dashed to pieces. You may have seen in the national news that the school districts in Emerson, New Jersey had received a bomb threat earlier in the week. Emerson is a bit away, but we in the city have come to realize that we are always living slightly on guard. So on my way home from the gym, I have to pass by a school. I noticed that traffic was stopped and there seemed to be a sea of little yellow polo shirts crossing the road. There were a couple of cop cars and a public school safety vehicle. In retrospect, it may have only been the requesite fire drill, but due to the limited space in Jersey City, when a school needs to be evacuated, students must often cross a road to be a safe distance away. I got stuck in the traffic of them crossing back to the school yard to reassemble and re-enter the school. Mind you, it is a LARGE school. There were a lot of yellow polo shirt clad children crossing the road. I, being on a runners high after the gym and listening to my favorite new song on the radio, put my car in park, thankful that the children all seemed to be ok, and the school was intact. ( I have seen what happens when its not just a drill.) Next to me, a guy proceeds to lay on his horn, voicing his frustration that the line of traffic was not moving. I, having the common sense of the wise traffic guard, knew that the line of traffic would start moving when the children were all across the street and the waiting cops allowed traffic to move again. Non-common sense driver next to me thought that laying on his horn, oh not once, but TWICE mind you, would magically move the entire line of traffic through the line of children and the waiting cops without getting him thrown in jail. Pray for the common sense of Jersey City. We could use some.