I realized something as I rode with Katrina yesterday. She does not yet have enough driving time to get her license, so we went on a four hour trip with no real destination. Now that I think about it, that’s actually not a bad way to spend a few hours. I wish I hadn’t been so tired, because I wasn’t the best conversationalist during the drive. I digress …
Katrina has a tendency to hug the curb as she drives. Sitting in the passenger seat, that tendency can be a little unnerving. We were on a snow-covered dirt road with plenty of hills when her tendency kicked into full force. It was the only point on our four hour trek where I felt compelled to grab the steering wheel to keep us from sliding into a ditch. As I admonished her to be more careful, I started to think about just how crazy the entire idea was. There was a car coming the other way, and Katrina’s natural instinct was to put as much distance between her and it as they hurtled towards each other. Here, I was criticizing her for not listening to that very rational instinct.
Forget TV, movies, and video games; the thing truly desensitizing Americans is our automobiles. Icy, narrow roads, speeding coffins of death (thank you Nader), and the requirement to overcome our instincts of self-preservation-- all of this leads me to one conclusion: driving is making us insane. Think of the increasing cases of road rage, drunk driving, drugged driving, texting-while-driving, etc. We are speeding through our lives and intentionally shutting down our instinct for self-preservation while doing so. All of the violence that we are desensitized to due to the media is as nothing compared to how desensitized we have become towards these threats to our very survival.
I had almost grabbed the wheel again as we were going up a hill. I had just given a small lecture on bright light etiquette, and her distraction with the lights had her scooting to the edge again. Before I could make the adjustment, a car flew over the hill. We had no sign that it was coming. It was almost in the middle of the road and coming right toward us, but we were far enough over that we barely missed each other. Katrina’s self-preservation that I was going to criticize (again) had kept us out of an accident. Situational irony. Perhaps there is something to be learned here.
… She does drive too close to the side of the road though. Watch your mailboxes.
Katrina has a tendency to hug the curb as she drives. Sitting in the passenger seat, that tendency can be a little unnerving. We were on a snow-covered dirt road with plenty of hills when her tendency kicked into full force. It was the only point on our four hour trek where I felt compelled to grab the steering wheel to keep us from sliding into a ditch. As I admonished her to be more careful, I started to think about just how crazy the entire idea was. There was a car coming the other way, and Katrina’s natural instinct was to put as much distance between her and it as they hurtled towards each other. Here, I was criticizing her for not listening to that very rational instinct.
Forget TV, movies, and video games; the thing truly desensitizing Americans is our automobiles. Icy, narrow roads, speeding coffins of death (thank you Nader), and the requirement to overcome our instincts of self-preservation-- all of this leads me to one conclusion: driving is making us insane. Think of the increasing cases of road rage, drunk driving, drugged driving, texting-while-driving, etc. We are speeding through our lives and intentionally shutting down our instinct for self-preservation while doing so. All of the violence that we are desensitized to due to the media is as nothing compared to how desensitized we have become towards these threats to our very survival.
I had almost grabbed the wheel again as we were going up a hill. I had just given a small lecture on bright light etiquette, and her distraction with the lights had her scooting to the edge again. Before I could make the adjustment, a car flew over the hill. We had no sign that it was coming. It was almost in the middle of the road and coming right toward us, but we were far enough over that we barely missed each other. Katrina’s self-preservation that I was going to criticize (again) had kept us out of an accident. Situational irony. Perhaps there is something to be learned here.
… She does drive too close to the side of the road though. Watch your mailboxes.
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