Think about cities around the world. Somebody’s making decisions [決定] about lots of important stuff, like: which roads to fix, where to plant new trees, and what color to paint the fire hydrants [消防栓]. But these are small decisions compared to what we are about to discuss.  And that’s the very important decision about choosing a crosswalk signal [行人穿越號誌].

Not all cities love their crosswalk signals, but some do.  We don’t know just how much we’ve grown to like something until it is taken away.  That’s what happen in 1990 when the two Germanys reunified [統一].  Very few things from the East were embraced [接受] by the West, but one thing survived, with great popularity, East Germany’s little traffic man. Glowing [發光] red and green, the well-dressed traffic man wears shoes and a hat. He’s still at street corners helping Germans cross safely.