Wayne Weekly “Traffic Circles”

I grew up living just a few miles from a good sized traffic circle, or sometimes called a “round-a-bout”. The circle was not built because of busy traffic congestion, but for smoothness of traffic flow from a number of entry points. I learned early on the meaning of “yield”.

My daughter Janelle is currently attending a community college. On the campus is a small traffic circle that services maybe four or five entry or exit points. Normally traffic flow is light and it is a convenient way to get onto the road to my daughters classroom building. It’s amazing to find students who don’t quite have the knack for navigating a traffic circle. When it comes to “yield”, I think some less experienced drivers think it applies to those already in the circle! I have learned to enter round-a-bouts with that in mind.

In life’s travels we enter traffic circles. There are times when we yield to let others by, and times when others yield to let us by. Being a Christian, we’re instructed to put our neighbor’s interests before our interests. Sometimes that means taking a back seat even though we have the experience and even the skills to take the front seat.

Yes, people may not need correction and be put in their place, correction is a healthy thing,  but there are those times that we should step back for the sake of the moment. In some instances it’s not prudent to “claim our right”. It might just be the time to give others a chance.

So when it comes to traffic circles of all kinds…yielding is prudent and yielding demonstrates the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, Luke 6:31.

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”                                                                                                     Philippians 2:3, 4