I want to scream!
Things are changing at such a fast pace that I almost can't keep up! What happened to courtesy? What happened to COMMON SENSE??? Remember when... oh. my. gosh..... I've begun the process of remembering how things used to be. How different life has become.... someone.. quick.. save meeeee.......
Driving.
It has always been one of my great joys. The ability of moving around in a little box on wheels going wherever I guide the steering wheel. There is something very exhilarating about it for me. These days I climb behind the wheel and I witness how much times have changed. Too damn many cars on the road. Too many drivers. Way too many!! Of every age. Driving cars that are too much. Since we live in a world where we are absolutely drowning in technology, cars have taken on new meaning. So many added conveniences. So many added diversions. Nothing is like it used to be. I now see why my parents used to say "things were so much easier when I was younger." As I slip into that same mindset, it rings so true.....
With the addition of more and more drivers, seems there are more rules and more policing. But at the same time less common sense and less courtsey. Our world has become an 'all about me' world. Evident in the designs of the these capsules we call vehicles, now with video on the go, telephone through the dashboard, a little screen with a voice telling you to make a u-turn you're going the wrong way! Good Grief!!
Give me a car, with a radio, windows that roll down, gas in the tank and a damn road map! I will show you what true driving is about. The sheer joy of it. Not many share that feeling. In fact, I wonder how many of us are left? I know there are car enthusiasts out there, those who find the car a most amazing entity. But I am wondering how many are about the drive itself. The control of it. The freedom of it.
I have been an aggressive driver all my driving career. The need for speed... =). It puts a smile on my face. I would like to state for the record, that I do pay for the privilege, and quite heavily. I have paid many hundreds of dollars over the years in speeding fines and court costs. You play, you pay. Got it. Have never complained about it either. I will also add, that for all the times I've been pulled over by those in blue, I am running about a 7 out of 10 rate of talking myself out of said violation!! =) =) (double smiles!!) But now it's not so easy. Not only are our cars techno-equipped but so are those who pull us over, with the latest laptop and satellite service, they know everything about me there is to know, if they want to know it. Geeez. Really?
(I want stop and thank all those folks out there who have choosen a life of crime, who do terribly bad things, hurt people or run drugs. YOU, my friend, are the reason we have more and more rules and laws that invade my privacy, all while you are taking advantage and then when you are caught, tried and convicted, and you now live off my dime in a prison somewhere.... you *&#k!!!)
There used to be unwritten rules of the road. It might just be in my mind, but it seems to me common sense was necessary. Common courtesy was part of the good ole days too. Oh, I miss it so. I wish I could start a movement, a class of some kind ... a "Hey Dumbass, You're Not the Only Driver on the Road" course. I would love to be an instructor! I would put a video camera on my car to show these idiots just how dumb they are.... (example, tonight on my way home, a car in the center lane engaged it's left turn signal, and then glided into the right lane and exited to the right, still with the left turn signal blinking..... I shake my head.)
Oh I see the car with 2 little kids jumping on the backseat as the driver speeds past me!? I see that car with the elderly couple out for a drive going the exact speed limit in the far left lane of any road they travel! I see that car with the young kid rocking along a little faster than he thinks he's going, only to cut off a semi tractor with a loaded trailer and doesn't realize that the semi does not have the stopping power that he does in that car. And let's not forget my favorite, the tiny little woman, bravely wrapped in that BIG SUV, driving that thing like she is indestructible and answers to no one. Every day someone like each of these described, cause accidents or gum up the flow of traffic.
All I want to do is drive. Without the worry and the stress of fighting the stupid, for the right of way.
