The general rule to follow at the stop sign is to stop and then go. Exceptions apply (in some places in India, you stop when you absolutely need to stop, otherwise you just go.)

OK, assuming that everyone is following the rules, life becomes simple for you and for everyone else who is on the road.

Imagine what happens in this scenario: You stop at the stop sign and when your turn comes to go, you are day dreaming and don’t budge. One of several things can happen:

•  The guy in the back can patiently wait until you go.
• The guy in the back can honk (waking you up from your dreams with a jolt)
• The guy in the back is expecting you to go for sure so he starts moving and can’t stop so he crashes onto your car

Stop signs can be frustrating too. When you are on the road you may get stop signs every signal until you reach your destination and sometimes you might not get any stop signs on your way.

When you reach the destination, you might find other people who have chosen to take the freeway to the same place and they report that they didn’t have ANY stop signs.

You might also meet some people who were brought there by chauffeur driven cars and they don’t clearly remember whether there were stop signs or not.

To take it to an extreme, you might also meet people who flew in via a helicopter to the same place and let alone stop signs, they were not even familiar with the road you took to reach there.

Whatever be the case, we go back to the fundamental point – at a stop sign, you stop but only temporarily. Then you get going again irrespective of how it’s working out for others.

Life is the same way in many ways and the same rules apply – when you find a stop sign, you stop, but, only temporarily. Then, you get going again!

Photo courtesy: ladybeames on Flickr