why did the chicken cross the road.......quickly??

I am probably safe in saying that the vast majority of Americans drive to wherever they need to go. Granted they may walk a little when they arrive, but in general, the first step in any journey is picking up the car keys. Since we spend so much time driving, and so little time walking, it occurs to me that we (myself included) are losing the ability to cross roads, primarily busy roads. I realized this a while back, when I had to cross the street separating my business location from the auto repair shop “over there” on the other side. My wife’s car was in for repair and when it was finished I walked over to pick it up and recognized how little recent practice I have had crossing streets and how much I had to focus on the task at hand. The road is two lanes and normally quite busy from both directions. That day was no exception. I had to look left, then right, then left again until it was clear. As I started across the street I realized that it takes a really looooong time to walk across a busy street. You have to see the oncoming traffic, judge their speed and calculate how long you have to make it across, not to mention the possibility that I might trip and fall. Yikes!! Why am I even doing this??? Granted, I reached the other side and retrieved my wife’s car and DROVE it back across. Based on this hair-raising experience, I can now understand why we drive places. Whatever you do, don’t forget the attention span that is required to cross a road.