Right Turn On Red

I had an inner conflict of sorts just the other day. In reality it is pretty common, but that day sitting behind a car with it's right turn signal light flashing while he waited for the green light, really got my attention. My mind was screaming, "Why won't he go on and turn?"

The answer: Because it is not required and it is his prerogative to turn or not on red. Yet I felt like that guy was supposed to make the right turn on red. Making my thinking worse, I was not in a hurry: just impatient for no good reason.

The dilemma: How often do we attempt to push our choice between two equally correct options onto someone who has the right to choose otherwise? We go as far as to believe they are wrong, and even get angry.

The fact that something is right or acceptable does not make it a requirement. That something is legal does not make it mandatory. The Apostle Paul went further to say, in effect, "Just because something is legal does not necessarily mean it is best or right to do." To think this all the way through, what is right for me may not be right for you. And we both can be right.

Some folks that I hang out with have a saying. "Live and let live." The great truth is, within the boundaries of wholesome living there is a multitude of acceptable choices. I do not have the right to expect you to make the same decisions I would make.

To be sure, we should not watch anyone do wrong or make bad decisions and not express some concern for their well being. At the same time, mature adults have the right to make well-informed bad decisions if they choose. The day that the gentleman in front of me chose not to make a right turn on red, his decision was better than my decision - to be offended at this decision.