I Don't Want to Stop Moving

I know I'm not the only one.  I'm driving along at break-neck speed, humming to my favorite driving song, and then suddenly all the traffic stops dead.  No explanation, no warning, no chance of escape.  You crane your neck to try and see at least five miles up the road a never-ending sea of red tail lights.  My instinct is to use the four wheel drive my truck is supposed to have and go over the median, down the gully, through the wooded area to find any other road that provides an open invitation to resume my forward movement.  It's almost instinctive to not want to just sit in traffic.  Does anyone have patience for that?  If there is any other alternative route, wouldn't you take it?  An off-ramp, a tiny unmarked road, a cut-through parking lot... heck, I've even driven through an old lady's back yard once. It seems that our body needs to keep moving, doesn't want to get hemmed in, doesn't want to feel crowded.  It's a lot like water... we always prefer moving water, such as rushing streams, big open lakes where there is a current, the ocean, waterfalls.  I've never seen a waterfall, that people won't drive out of their way for, or stop for a look even when they're running an hour late.  We seem to crave the feeling we get from movement.  In fact scientists have found that moving water throws off negative ions, even rainfall.  The effect on the human body of negative ions is well-documented and is thought to actually be one of the most important health-inducing effects we can experience.

Then why do we put ourselves in situations where there is no movement?  Why do we choose not to exercise?  Why do we drink water that is incapacitated in plastic bottles or large holding tanks before it reaches our tap?  Why do we drive two blocks instead of walking?  I rather think that we need to have movement every day.  It transfers energy into our bodies, whether through walking, through the water we choose to drink, through our choice of recreation.  I watch elderly Chinese couples walk every single day, rain or shine, as though their life depended on it.  Maybe our lives do...