Pulling up to a family member's house and noticing a mammoth gas-guzzler in the driveway.
"What is THAT?" my husband shouts.
I shrug. "Someone must be here."
"Nooooo...that is their license plate. Remember he got into an accident in his sedan?"
"And he bought THAT?" I am marveling at the tall, sleek and black vehicle. Its logo is a shiny pinwheel of blue and white. We sit entranced until super-toddler makes some annoyed noises from the back seat. We forgot. Our days of sitting quietly to stare at things were over. I break the silence:
"Where do you think your sister went?"
"She's home."
"Nooooo...her car is gone. She is not home."
"Her car is in the garage. You can't see it? The insanely large, blaring red SUV in the garage?"
Now he is just making fun of me.
"No, I DON'T see it! I can't see past the frickin SUV in the driveway!" I am crabby past return now.
(Because this is why I feel like I am going to lose my life every time I get on the road with the other 100,000,000 mammoths out on any given road at all times)
Everyone has a right to drive a car that they enjoy. But there is this war going on half a world away, and man...do I feel small, stupid and vulnerable these days out on the road! During our winters, slip-sliding around in my non-4-wheel drive lifts me to a whole new level of dumb.
I know.
I still cannot bring myself to buy one.
I also do not feel some sort of smug better-than-thou feeling toward large-vehicle owners. Especially toward my family that I speak about above...they live in a particulary snowy part of northeast Ohio, plus they drive around two children, whom I adore.
I understand convenience. I understand the need to feel safe. And those drop down DVD screens are so damn appealing at this stage in my life.
I should put the well-being of my family before I think about the impact I am making on the rest of the world. Right? Right?
It is hard not to think this way when I look in my rear-view mirror and see my tiny girl in the backseat depending on me to get her from point A to point B...alive.
But when I can't see that other humble car has stopped short on the road in any lane because I am surrounded by Hummers and Blazers and Expeditions, oh my!...I want to give in to that thinking, I do. I too want to block your view from the very thing that could take your life to save mine and my daughter's.
Then I stop my cycle of bitterness and think. What does an Iraqi woman have to protect her as she tries to cross the street, clutching her tiny girl to her chest, as bombs fly overhead?
No, for now I will just sleep easy on that whole new level of dumb, and PRAY to the god of petroleum to do whatever it takes to wake us up. $5.00 gallons? Whatever it takes.
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2 comments:
I like this. I hate frickin SUVs and the Hummers, and everything. They are gas guzzling resources we can't use, they impede my view of EVERYTHING. It makes me so angry, that I too wish I had one so they wouldn't piss me off any more... and the same time succumbing to something I hate. Not cool either.
What UI hate more is how people justify how large they are "because I feel safe" even though they are more likely to tip over in a wreck, never make lists of "safest cars" etc. And thier roominess...somehow we all made it on trips just fine without the cargo spce of a small apartment. But for something fun...take the word "anal" and put it in front of the name of whatever SUV you hate. And then laugh.
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