Your Traffic Jam Isn't That Bad

cnn.com -- A 60-mile traffic jam near the Chinese capital could last until mid-September, officials say. There, vehicles were inching along little more than a third of a mile a day. Zhang Minghai said he didn't expect the situation to return to normal until around Sept. 17 when road construction is scheduled to be finished.

That was a few days ago. Then, almost magically, the road cleared overnight. Literally, overnight. People woke up and vehicles were moving normally.

That area is so known for huge traffic jams nobody even notices them. Unless, of course, you are in one. Even then, it’s just part of life and nothing to be surprised at. What is to be surprised at is the unlocking of a three-month jam just overnight. That is what amazed the traffic people.

What happened to the ten-mile back-up? Did some magician make it disappear along with his beautiful stage assistant? Was their a giant sinkhole that took all the vehicles with it and then closed up again? Were the drivers so fed up they simply drove through peoples’ backyards to freedom?

We may never know. But in the dark of night, on the other side of the planet, in what we Westerners call “the inscrutable East,” something happened to instantly clear up one of the world’s worst traffic jams. I can’t think of any relevant ancient Chinese sayings to explain all of this, so let’s just quit while we’re ahead.