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I was driving to work this morning when I stopped at a four way stop intersection. This is a route that I travel very frequently and I am normally very aware of its surroundings. Once at the intersection, I looked directly in front of me, then to the right and left. To my left, I noticed a traffic attendant escorting three children to the other side of the road. Once the attendant put down his hand held stop sign and walked to the other side of the street, I took another glance at my surroundings. I didn’t think that I was the first car to arrive at the intersection, but I couldn’t figure out why none of the other cars were moving. I thought to myself, “Maybe it is my turn?” As I drove through the intersection and started turning left, I immediately noticed a second traffic attendant holding up a stop sign directly in front of me. I had to slam on breaks to keep from hitting him. I immediately mumbled “I’m so sorry”. The attendant then frowned at me and walked to the other side of the road. I felt so bad. How did I not see the second traffic attendant? What was blocking my vision?
As I drove on to work, I realized that there had been several things on my mind over the past week that may have distracted my view. These things somehow prevented me from focusing on what was really important at that intersection. How often do you let things, situations or people block you from clearly seeing what’s most significant? Be mindful of the things that are blocking your vision.
