Meditation On A Stop Sign
By DONALD DeMARCO
The Stop Sign is different from the traffic light. The latter tells us when to “stop,” but it also tells us when to “go.” The Stop Sign tells us to stop and nothing more. It leaves a great deal of room for thought. In this regard, it is very much like life. We do not have ready instructions that tell us what to do after we stop. We are often stuck at the Stop Sign.
The Stop Sign, unlike life, is a perfect example of both brevity and clarity. A single word in white on a background of red tells us exactly what to do. It commands obedience. Its octagonal shape was designed to indicate the presence of an intersection, something that makes life all the more complicated. Its origin goes back to the year 1923 and is the brainchild of traffic experts in the state of Mississippi. The previous black and white signs were often ignored. Today, one ignores the red emblazoned Stop Sign at his peril.
We must know far more than what the Stop Sign tells us. Traffic authorities advise that when we come to a Stop Sign we should stop, allow our car to rock back, and count to three before we do anything else. We learn from other sources that we should make sure that the coast is clear before we proceed, and if it is clear, only then should we proceed with caution toward our destiny. Life demands that we know far more than what can be contained in a single-word command. To be limited by a single word, as in George Orwell’s novel 1984, is to be a victim of verbal determinism.
I am fascinated by the Stop Sign because it serves as an analogy for many people who are stuck because they interpret the Stop Sign too literally and do not know how to proceed. One may imagine Hell as the equivalent of being stuck at a Stop Sign forever. As an intellectual example, some may see the word “diversity” and stop. They do not go on to realize that diversity is not a stopping point but a word that needs to be put into context. Quakers, neo-Nazis, and libertarians are a diverse group, but they have no basis in unity and therefore do not represent a terminal value. Diversity needs to be set in the context of unity. It is not an end in itself. A mishmash of contradictory factors is not something that merits either emulation or praise (for example, LGBTQ).
Similarly, the word “choice” is not a stopping point. We must go on to differentiate the capacity to choose from the act of choosing. We must also take into consideration what is chosen, whether it is good or harmful, whether it is fulfilling or dissipating.
St. John Paul, an eminently wise philosopher, puts choice into its proper context in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor: “Acting is morally good when the choices of freedom are in conformity with man’s true good and thus express the voluntary ordering of the person towards his ultimate end.”
The word “liberal” is also a word that needs to be refined and classified according to its many uses. It does not mean freedom from restraint and nothing else. It could be an emancipation from sin, an escape from tyranny, a release from imprisonment, or a victory over worldliness. A person who fancies himself to be “liberal” may be lockstep in tune with the Zeitgeist. On the other hand, being liberal is to be free to be oneself. One should not stop at the current political interpretation of “liberal” and baptize himself as free.
In a single sentence, the former Pope has neatly integrated choice with freedom, truth, goodness, order, and man’s proper end. He did not get stuck on the single word “choice.” John Paul is filling in the details for us so that if we are stuck, we can become unstuck.
Walker Percy titles his collection of essays, Signposts in a Strange Land (1991). He envisions himself, as well as everyman, as “a stranger in a strange land where the signposts are enigmatic.” The various signposts are, like the Stop Sign, abbreviations. They do not tell us much. The rest of what we need to know is up to us to figure out. Scripture tells us far more than what we can glean from monosyllabic messages. And let us not discount the words of wisdom we find in wise philosophers and theologians. Tradition is also an invaluable teacher. It helps to fill in the spaces between the various signposts.
Meditation is a good stopping point. It gives us that pause that refreshes. It gives us the opportunity to look ahead and make sure we are going in the right direction. It rests on the courage to open the door to one’s inner self and assess that being apart from the opinions of others. It is a moment of silence between the self and God.
Life is always binary: stop and go, life and death, good and evil, male and female, the visible and the invisible, freedom and determination. Therefore, there are two things we should want to avoid: 1) being stuck and not moving forward; 2) moving forward without knowing where we are going. Life is a paradox that requires the harmonious synthesis of complementary opposites.
And so, I return to the Stop Sign and take to heart its courteous message: stop and think, proceed with caution. I embrace the visible and wed it to the invisible. The humble Stop Sign reminds me that I should pray to God so that I may do His Will.
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(Dr. Donald DeMarco is a professor emeritus at St. Jerome’s University and an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College & Seminary. He is a regular columnist for St. Austin Review. His latest three books are How to Navigate through Life and Apostles of the Culture of Life [posted on amazon.com], and the soon to be published, A Moral Compass for a World in Confusion.)