Cars are the Great Equalizer

I’m a great driver. I learned to drive when I was only 14. In South Dakota, where I grew up, you could get a permit when you were 14, and be a full-fledged driver by the time you were 15. In fact, I found it so easy that I would often drive without two hands, sometimes without one. I wasn’t satisfied that driving was a challenge at all until we convinced my dad to let us learn stick shift. I learned it pretty easily and was convinced you aren’t really driving unless you have a stick shift.  I was a bit of a hazard when I was young, but I never got in an accident. In fact, to this day, I still have only been in one, and that was because someone else hit me, because they were going through a red light.

We all have a certain status and stature in life. Sometimes that status is earned, other times it is just because people think you are certain way by judging you, we do. Sometimes you change people’s perception’s and sometimes you can’t. Sometimes there is just nothing you can do about how you are percieved. I think that people’s driving is the great equalizer. No matter what people think about you for whatever reason, you can be someone in a car.

I think I’m confusing you and probably me. What I’m saying is that the tallest, buffest guy in the world could be the careful, gentle driver in the world. On the other hand, you could see the most petite shy girl, with the a petal to the metal mentality. It doesn’t matter people’s status in the world, they could be the biggest jerk in the driving world or the best safest person.

I used to have a friend that drove 50 in the parking lot and 90 in a 45 once. I’m honestly not sure how he avoided going to jail, or quite frankly the morgue, but he was a speed demon. On the other hand, I had another friend who drove resonably safe, except when it came to following too closely to others. He would literally be inches from the person in front him before he would stop. We never actually hit anyone when he was driving, but a few times my heart almost went through the windshield. My brother once taught a girl he liked “how to drive” and she somehow found a way to flip the car over. Another time when my friend was driving I was in the back seat and I thought it would be funny to jerk his wheel a little. The car drove into a ditch and almost over a cliff.

Cars can be a great equalizer. Just because you see a mom in a minivan right next to you, don’t assume there isn’t a speed demon behind the wheel, that won’t run you down if you cut into her lane.

ARRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHH

Bitter Car Equalizer Be n