Traffic Koans [Day 3]

_{This is Day 3 of my 30-day writing challenge. For contest details, please check it out here. Every koan is my original work.}

A young man gritted his teeth while waiting in line for what seemed like forever. He had grown impatient at the snail's pace he had been making, and deducted that some of the people ahead of him wouldn't mind if he cut in front of them. It was all an assumption, or an educated guess. He didn't bother asking them to confirm. The only tell, as far as he was concerned, was that they didn't seem to complain about their slow progress. 'What's one more man in front of them?', he thought to himself.

So, he stepped out of his line and sneakily tried to overtake a handful of people.

He was stopped in his tracks by older fellow who looked eerily familiar. As much as the young man tried to evade the older man, the older man just kept blocking his path, forbidding his passage.

"Excuse me," the younger man said politely.

"Is this where you should be walking?" the old man asked. "From where I'm coming from, you're the one blocking my path."

"There is plenty of space," the young man pointed out. "Let me through and we could both be on our way."

The line behind the old man grew longer with every second they spent talking.

"Where should I go?" the old man inquired. "The line behind me is already quite long."

"Step aside."

"There is no more space."

"If you would've just let me pass earlier, we would've both been in a better state than where we are now."

"Am I to be blamed for the state that we are in now?" the old man asked the younger one.

"Yes. Yes, you are."

"Perhaps I should ask everyone else who has suffered, so you could all determine the punishment that I deserve."

The young man tried to squeeze himself back into his line, but no one gave him room. He walked back to the spot where he came from, but the space had already been occupied by the person who was behind him. The young man pleaded for his old position back, but his request fell on deaf ears. He looked back behind him now, only to see the old man and a rather long line behind them.

At that moment, the young man became enlightened.

I noticed that a lot of people had trouble with yesterday's koan. This is my fault, as I was rushing when I wrote that. I failed to account for the different interpretations for it. For that, I apologize. Look to my clues and my replies in the comments section to figure out what I tried to say with it. I have since tried to make the other koans easier to interpret.

Just a reminder for everyone, these daily koans are part of a contest. A daily winner would be picked, and each daily winners stand to win SBD by the end of the month. While it's not a lot, it's still free money, so don't be shy and participate. If you know anyone who would benefit from winning SBD please share this contest with them. To enter, read the contest details above. TLDR: Solve the koan/riddle (usually a traffic infraction), and if you have experienced something similar in your life, share your tale in the comments section. Most interaction and votes would win the day. I am not restricting anyone here, so you can promote your comment any way you please.

Always remember, there are no shortcuts in life ;)

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