Thoughts on Humanity and Driving Cars

  Cars are wonderful. Because of the day and age in which I live, I can hardly imagine life apart from these devices of transportation. And because I live in America, everybody drives (even those who complain of the effect driving has on the environment). For the most part, society sees driving as absolutely indispensable. And whether a body uses public transportation or their own car, most Americans spend some portion of their day inside of a vehicle.

  After driving for the past few years, I have found cars do strange things to people. I am not sure if it is because people turn into their true selves when they get behind they wheel of a car, or if it is because they become some horrible alternative version of themselves. And maybe I am just thinking this because I encountered a particularly rude driver yesterday. I had never in my life seen this person, and it is their own fault that I hope to never encounter them again.

  People are going to be rude and selfish, but for some reason, driving a car seems to amplify these qualities. But it can also go the other way. It seems sometimes, times I have encountered the most courteous people in existence when they were behind the wheel of their cars.

  My Dad always says people drive like they live. There is a lot of truth in that. Some people drive fast, others drive slow, and then there are those who meticulously follow the speed limit. Some people are rude, some people are polite. There are drivers who are painfully indifferent to driving while others attack the road with the ferocity of a race car driver. And we who drive get to encounter all of these people every time we settle behind the steering wheel. On America's highways we get to meet humanity at its most honest.