One Way Only

“Voyeuristic. It's none of our business. There was no crime committed, no need to call police.”

I wish it were that easy. 

A liar would let such comments stand, give the wrong impression, and be a hypocrite. 

But I am not a hypocrite nor a liar.

***

Imagine a man driving down the road, doing his best to follow all the signs, to obey all the traffic rules, to keep all the laws of the land. After years of driving without incident (no doubt blessed for his obedience), he grows a little careless behind the wheel. He becomes distracted: by other drivers, screaming children in the backseat, boredom, fatigue, the cares of the world. 

He notices a traffic light ahead has turned yellow, but he senses no danger. He thinks he’s got plenty of time to make it. But, then, unexpectedly, the light turns red! He slam on his brakes! His momentum carries him into the intersection anyway. 

Now what?

He’s blocking traffic. Clearly he’s in violation of the law. He’s run a red light! He’s committed an infraction.

He rolls down his window, sheepishly waves to the other drivers he’s cut off, and mouths the words “I’m sorry.” He apologizes profusely to his fellow passengers, openly admits his fault, then steers his car out of harm’s way…humbled, even a bit traumatized, but strangely grateful, too, that it wasn’t much worse. 

It could have been much worse. 

He got lucky this time.

He could have been caught by the police!

He could have gotten a ticket!

He could have caused a terrible accident!! 

He could have even killed somebody!!!

But he wasn’t and he didn’t.

So now what?

Does he drive around the block (like he heard one General Authority do) and stop at that same intersection and traffic light just to prove he didn’t mean to run it the first time? 

Does he find the nearest cop and tell her what he did, and ask her to write him a ticket anyway? 

Does he look up the infraction in the rule book, write a confession, and send it in to the proper authorities, together with all the money he would have had to pay if he had been caught, including the outrageous administrative fee? (Surely then his conscience would be cleared!) But at what price? Wouldn’t his wife and children be that much poorer for it? Would hurting them be the “right” thing for him to do?

Does he call his insurance company and apprise them of his infraction, proving he’s a reckless driver, practically daring them to drop his coverage?

Does he contact the DMV and tell them they need to restrict or revoke his license? (How would he work? How would he support his family?)

Does he intentionally demolish his car in a staged accident — maybe even killing himself — to “pay the ultimate price,” to prove that he wasn’t trying to “get away” with anything, to “show the world” that he was, indeed, truly sorry for sliding into that intersection in violation of the law? 

Wouldn’t he be better off dead anyway? (The insurance payout alone would make his family rich!) Do his wife and children even love him? Do they even want to keep him around?

“Have you ever run a stop sign or failed to yield to a traffic light?” someone asks him. “Because, if you have, I’m going to turn you over to the police and have you prosecuted!”

Does he answer that question honestly, frankly and forthrightly, as he wants to? Or does he just “eat” it and remain silent, for the good of his loved ones? 

***

Or does he harden his heart and say, “Hey! I just got away with running a red light! I think I’ll try that again…and do it for as long as I can get away with it! Maybe I can push the limits even farther! Maybe I can start speeding up at yellow lights! And run more red ones!”

***

Now imagine you’re sitting at a red light. Your wife isn’t with you, keeping you company. She’s off doing her own thing. Your children are sleeping in the backseat. You’re very hungry and tired. And bored. You just want to get home…and be with your wife! But you’re “stuck” here…at this lonely intersection…waiting for a light to turn green that never seems to change.

Then someone pulls up behind you. 

A  much younger driver in a really hot sports car revs her engine. The light stays red. She shifts her transmission into "neutral" and pushes her gas pedal to the floor. “Vrooom! Vrooom!!” Her engine roars! You feel the adrenaline and the excitement! You look in your rearview mirror. “Man, I wish I had a beautiful, hot car like that! What a lot of fun that would be to drive!” The driver smiles at you, daring you to cross over the line and move forward.

You look both ways. No one’s coming. No one else is in sight! Who would ever know if you ran this red light? “Why are we waiting here patiently, wasting gas?” you ask yourself. “It’s so stupid!”

It’s just the two of you anyway. Sitting there. Waiting. Wasting your time. Impatiently. Waiting. To go for it. Wanting to go for it.

But you can’t. 

Not without breaking the law.

“VROOM! VROOM!” She honks her horn at you! She shifts her car into "drive" and nudges you a little with her bumper! She waves at you and beckons: “Go for it! Do it!" 

You can't believe your fortune, that this is happening to you!

And the light still doesn’t change.

“Damn it to hell!” you say to yourself. “This light’s never going to change! What am I waiting for?! Why am I still sitting here?!”

So…though you’ve never intentionally run a red light in your entire life…you say to yourself, “Oh, why not? What will it hurt anyone this time?” 

And you go for it.

You take your foot off the brake, give it a little gas, and barely cross over the line into the intersection.

Then you stop.

You have second thoughts! 

You say to yourself: “I can’t do this!! I swore I’d never do this! It’s wrong! I’m not going to do this!”

You try backing up.

But now more traffic has piled up behind you! Your wife calls you on your cell phone and asks you at that very moment: “Where are you? Who are you with? What are you doing? Why aren’t you home?” Your children wake up in the backseat and ask: “Daddy, why are we sitting in the middle of the road?  Who is that person in the red sports car, making all the noise? What are you doing with her?”

More importantly, what do you do now? You can’t go back! You can’t legally go forward! The light is still red! 

Do you go against the light?

To add insult to injury, the red sports car now blows by you in a blur of excitement and fury, the driver laughing as she spins her wheels in your face. (You say to yourself: “I’d give $50,000 to have a car like that and take her for a spin the way she does!”) 

But, early on, you chose to be the “good” driver. 

And now it eats at you. (You never should have looked in that rearview mirror!)

And now you’re a criminal. You’ve intentionally broken the law (even just a little). Now you’re sitting in the middle of an intersection. You don’t want to go forward! But you can't go back!

What to do?

If you’re honest and faithful, law abiding and obedient, what are your choices? What are your options?

“[B]y small and simple things [like this] are great [and terrible] things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.” (Alma 37:6).