The Colours of Social Harmony
Traffic lights are severely unappreciated for their humanitarian work. A pedestrian's single misstep in following their signals could mean their last breath by the screech of tires and the sound of a crash. With only three colors, traffic lights orchestrate the safety of several crosswalks. Yet, we rarely pause to acknowledge the power that these objects wield over all the people crossing the road.
My earliest memory of crossing a road is of my mother holding me close, pointing to the ominous red warning ahead. Naturally sensitive to color, I spotted the brightly vibrant orbs from meters away as they cut through the monotonous concrete sidewalks. My mother held me on one side of the road, directly in front of the bright red light several meters ahead. It floated far beyond my height, or anyone else's height for that matter, exerting excruciating dominance over the two of us waiting. Despite the noisy, impatient car honks and the lack of appreciation from closed-minded adults, the light firmly remained red, a testament to its ultimate power. Unexpectedly, the light flashed yellow. Before I could excitedly blurt out "How does that work?" the light flashed green. "Let's go," my mother said, too tired to deal with my childlike exclamations. After crossing the road, we made a turn to face the next set of traffic lights. "These colorful circles are everywhere!" I thought.
Through an accumulation of my fascination, I began collecting data out of personal interest. After the light turned green, I counted ten seconds for the green light to start flashing, seventeen to turn yellow, and three to turn red. Once red, the light facing me began the cycle anew. I always thought it was strange how these traffic lights were so obedient and accurate at any time of any day, and that my life depended on their everyday quiet vigilance.
I noticed the constant trend, where every traffic light consisted of three uniformed lights stacked neatly above each other. My four-year-old self envisioned mini human-like robots inside those traffic lights. I imagined them to be so miniscule that there would be three living in a single traffic signal. I speculated that in every light, there were three floors: the bottom for the green, middle for the yellow, and red for the top. They had individual offices with an expansive table of buttons, mechanical controls, and anything else that's too complicated for a four-year-old to understand. I thought that they each had one earbud in during work that they used to communicate with all the other robots in their own traffic lights as well as the neighboring traffic lights. They either pressed a big red alert button or talked to each other once approaching the 17-second timeline for the lights to turn yellow. They tugged on pulleys that correspond to the robots' office across the street to ensure that they turned green once the other side became red. They worked together to maintain order in this society, an order that prevented tears, injuries, and death. I recall wanting to be those robots who had the pride of saying “I prevent thousands of deaths in a single day” when I "grow up."
Although traffic lights may not contain the little diligent robots that four-year-old me thought they did, they continue a prominent role in society. Like my imaginary robots who work day and night, such inventive mechanics similarly worked day and night to keep the world population alive. People rarely ever stop and think that three colorful orbs can determine whether they live or die. Within their humility, traffic signals remind me to gratefully wave at the systems working silently to keep the public circulating. I aspire to reflect the humanity of seemingly mundane contributions to society—the red lights that command us to halt, the green lights that offer the freedom to move, even the three second yellow signal to prepare our brakes. Those little diligent robots are still with me, working to make life more harmonious. They are part of the greater society of caregivers, the innovators, and the artists who contribute to the betterment of all. Traffic lights fuel my hope that the future generations will strengthen social harmony through small acts of compassion and gratitude—from accessible forums, to storytelling gatherings, to neighborhood groupings—by amplifying the work they do.
Throughout my whole life, my parents tried to instill in me the belief that learning communication skills is the most important thing. I responded, "No, traffic lights are."