Pull To The Right And Stop

"Sometimes the best thing we can do in a crisis is nothing."  ~Matt Leatherwood~

So you're driving down the road one day in your fancy new convertible, top down, iPod blaring on your new grand stereo.  You're bobbing your head, pounding on the steering wheel to ZZ Top and just letting the world go by.  Telephone poles go by like a picket fence and the dots on the center lane look like stripes.  Come on!  You know the feeling!  We've all been there, right? 

Suddenly, seemingly from out of nowhere you spot a giant red monster in your rear-view mirror;  sirens wailing, air horn blasting, urging you to make way for an emergency. You panic and begin asking yourself questions marked by milliseconds.  "What do I do?  Where should I go?  Oh my God!!"  You may speed up.  You might move to the left or stop in the middle of a busy intersection.  And God forbid, you may even slam on the brakes! NOT a good idea, by the way.

I've been a firefighter now for over 17 years and I see it each and every time I climb on the seat of an apparatus enroute to an emergency.  I witnessed it daily as a paramedic and as a station officer, I have a front row seat to the antics of drivers caught unaware by emergency vehicles.  GETTING to the scene of an emergency is easily the most dangerous thing we do.  It's more death-defying than running in to a burning building.  I promise.  Check the stats.

If you've ever taken an exam for a drivers license any time in your life, or even read the manual, you should know that the appropriate response to an emergency vehicle coming from either direction is to safely move to the RIGHT and STOP.  Don't creep along.  Don't block an intersection where we might have to turn and DON'T slam on the brakes.  That's an excellent way to get a mega-ton piece of steel installed in the front seat next to you.............or on top of you.  It's simple.  It's painfully simple.  Pull to the right and stop.  Pull to the right and stop. Pull....to....the....right....and....STOP!

So by now you're hopefully wondering why I'm offering a lecture on driving etiquette.  It too, is simple.  The above-mentioned examples regarding emergency vehicles are an excellent metaphor for life.  Every single one of us, at one time or another, has been cruising along life's highway without a care in the world.  Top down, hair blowing in the wind, stereo blasting............no worries.  Then from out of nowhere, someone hits you with an emergency and everything changes.  You begin asking yourself all the same questions you ask when confronted by a big red fire engine.  "What should I DO now?  How can I FIX this?  Where do I GO from here?" 

There are occasions when an emergency requires action.  I wouldn't be much help as a fireman if I showed up at a fire and went, "Yup, it's on fire alright.  Let's just watch."  The same holds true for life.  Sometimes a crisis requires action.  At other times, in the midst of a storm, when you're asking yourself all those questions wondering how you'll ever get back to your peaceful cruise, the best action is to do nothing.  Gently let go of the problem, pull to the right.....and stop.  Our panic often gets in the way of a solution.  The solution is already at hand.  The universe spins in perfect harmony and NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING happens by accident.  There is a reason for everything...........even an emergency.  If it's painful, it's because you're resisting the natural flow of things.  Let it go.  Pull over.

Just try it once.  You may not have the answer you seek immediately, but I'm banking the right answer will come much sooner than if you fight it.  And just as surely as the big red fire engine, your crisis will pass if you'll just get out of the way. 

Simply pull to the right and stop.