I like to consider myself as being an “aggressive pedestrian” in the city. From taking smart shortcuts, to strategically weaving my way through crowds, I have learned many simple tactics that help to get me to my destination as quickly as possible.

One of these tactics I employ on a regular basis, is what I like to call “anticipating the green”.

Fairly self-explanatory, anticipating the green refers to the process of understanding traffic signals well enough to be able to predict as early as possible when the corresponding green light will change. By mastering this process, there is the possibility of gaining a couple of solid seconds in the journey. Not to mention the satisfaction of leaving the rest of the crowd behind on the sidewalk, bewildered at the boldness of my move.

Not to brag, but I have become a professional at this. On a regular basis, I watch the lights to my left and right turn yellow, make sure there are no straggling cars speeding last minute through the intersection, then cross. One of the small victories in my day.

When I first began applying this procedure, I realized that the theory of anticipating the green applies to much more than just traffic signals and pedestrian existence. It can be applied to relationships in life as well.

Real life relationships, whether romantic or platonic, are composed of a complex system of reading signals. Signals that indicate intentions, hesitations, and inclinations. Forging a connection with another person requires an intricate reading of the signals in order to enact an appropriate reaction. From experience, I have learned that caution must be exercised in both of these scenarios.

A few weeks ago, while walking down Spadina to visit a friend, I was distracted. Caught up in my thoughts, I wasn’t paying attention to what was around me. I walk down Spadina quite frequently, and know the traffic signals like the back of my hand. However, this time I had gotten ahead of myself, and thinking that I was one intersection ahead of where I actually was I anticipated the green and began to cross. Unfortunately, the intersection I was actually crossing had an extra turning light. I managed to jump back just in time to see an orange cab zoom past me, inches from my toes. It was a close call, but it taught me a lesson I will never forget.

It’s easy to lose perspective. Focused on the end goal or destination, the exchanges in the present time lose significance. When the focus is on the potential that lies in the desired target, signals can be misread and misunderstood. Much like the walk to and from one place, the “in-between” time from when a relationship starts to when it is fully formed reflects a kind of negotiation process. It is the process of evaluating the signals in that in-between time that leads to whether that end will be reached, or whether a vibrant orange taxi will fly around the corner and take you out.

The ending point will be reached eventually. For the time being stay alert and stay in the present, because something that seems predictable can sometimes catch you off guard. Life is about the exchange of signals, action and reaction, whether it be electronic or human. While humans are much more complicated and confusing than the straightforward traffic signals, there are similarities in the consequences of misreading these indicators. They are implemented to give direction. And if the signals are not acknowledged, then the direction of the course can be impacted.

Anticipating the green is effective when applied properly. It can get you ahead of the crowd and get you to where you want to be ahead of schedule. But although signals can be anticipated, they cannot be ignored.

Today, in my Victorian Literature class, we analyzed the image and text relationship in “The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred Tennyson. While this analysis sounds boring, I found it to be quite illuminating. This is because I discovered that the Lady of Shalott and I really aren’t that different.

In the poem, the Lady of Shalott resides in a tower on an island, where she “weaves by night and day/ a magic web with colours gay”. Outside of her window is a vibrant green playground, full of forests, fields of barley and rye, and a river that leads to the wondrous Camelot. However, We learn that this Lady “has heard a whisper say/ A curse is on her if she stay/ To look down to Camelot”.

A little ominous, yes. Symbolic? Of course. Because what would any kind of literature be without symbolism?

The Lady of Shalott has a curse placed on her which entails unnamed consequences to befall her if she dares to venture a glance at the world outside of her window. Her only view of the world exterior to her tower room is seen through a reflection in her mirror; a mere fragment of reality.

The Lady lives her life in peace with this fragment of reality, until the fateful day when her world is shaken to the core. What brings about this change, you ask? Like any tragic story, the woman’s life becomes changed by love.

“From underneath his helmet flow’d/ His coal-black curls as on he rode” boasts the poem of Sir Lancelot.

Lancelot, in myth and literature, is known for being a symbol of love and romance. So obviously, we understand that the emergence of his character into the poem suggests the Lady’s realization of lust and desire. But the figure of Lancelot means much more than this.

Due to the Lady’s entrapment in the tower, isolated and alone, the character of Lancelot stands in for every experience in the world that she has not yet had the opportunity to embark on. He represents adventure, longing, and curiousity. He represents frustration, confusion, and pain. But most of all he represents everything, and nothing, at the same time.

The Lady sees him from a distance, and the image of his passing figure is enough to make her give up her life. Seeing even his image briefly reflected in her mirror makes her realize that there is more to the world than her loom and the paintings on her wall. That the world depicted in a reflective surface is shallow and meaningless. She turns to look out the window, and accepts her curse. Her mirror cracks, and the life that she has known is shattered in a single movement. She can’t turn back, as the damage is done.

“Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
The Lady of Shalott.”

As she travels down the river towards Camelot, I asked myself where Lancelot was during this time. It is never stated, so I wondered “Did he know she was drifting down the river towards him? Did he see her in a distance and continue on his way, unaltered by this new presence?”
Regardless, the Lady of Shalott floats down the river with purpose, when eventually, “They heard her singing her last song”. This line gave me chills. The last song, the last breath, the last anything a person does when they know it is their last is haunting.

Lancelot eventually finds her body in the boat, and exclaims that she is lovely. But it is too late, and she has given up the fight. The curse has won.

This poem is a metaphor for the trials of falling in love.

Haven’t we all felt isolated and alone, and recognized that one solitary figure has the potential to change all that? That one person has the ability to open our eyes to an entirely new world, just by being in their presence?

Haven’t we all, at least once in our time, risked our minds, bodies and souls for another? Given up the safe world that we knew, because going back to the life we lived before meeting that person would be worse than death?

And if everyone hasn’t, I know I have, been a passenger down the river of longing where the other person refuses to acknowledge your devotion and suffering, until your body yields to exhaustion and the soul becomes extinguished.

Through analyzing the choices made by the Lady of Shalott, I recognize that in love we have two choices when the object of our affection refuses to acknowledge our presence. Stay in the tower, shut off from real experience and emotion, or accept the rumored curse and begin an adventure in which the ending is not yet decided.

I will always choose to pursue. Even if my fate is not clear, if the water is murky and my boat is leaking. In these instances, I will do so because the idea of turning back to a mere reflection of life and not allowing exposure to an experience so pure would be worse than death. Because even though this may be a path leading to death, at least it’s guaranteed to be a wild ride.