Every now and then we are reminded that a wrinkle here or there in time can mean the difference between life and death; disaster or escape.
Yesterday I was no more than 10 or 20 feet away from a rural intersection when a car full of teenagers blasted at a very high speed through that intersection without slowing or stopping. I felt I could feel their wake, so close were we.
They were playing "chicken," it would seem. When they saw how close we'd come, they shouted exuberantly, as if in exultation and a sense of victory, their laughter punctuated by the tangle of their arms saluting me through open windows.
A tad of time, and I could have been tee-boned and never made it home again, especially at the speed they were travelling; another slight difference in time and THEY could have been tee-boned, leaving weeping families and friends. And yet another fateful time between our two approaches to that intersection, and neither of our cars would have come close enough for me even ponder what I'm pondering.
I'm not sure these youthful beings grasped the same significance as I did; it's very possible this was for them another proof they were immortal.
As for me, it was yet another reminder that life at its brightest can be fragile.
Carpe diem.
R.A.T. (Rose About Town)
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Monday, June 15, 2009
OPEN LETTER TO OUR LEADERS
SMALL CARS...
Before you think about selling Americans on little cars, you might seriously think about establishing a separate lane for for all those huge trucks which clog our highways, overpowering us dangerously in size and making it impossible to see the view (and signs) ahead. To be effective, those truck lanes would have to be far left to help our visibility, or possibly on a separate highway.
Small-child car seats figure into the small-car quotient as well. How can a mother of more than one small child get them into a little car; how can she reach in and extricate them without popping her back out of place... ? (There's a reason young families prefer large cars, and we have the intelligence and ability and techno-savvy to come up with economical engines in larger vehicles... especially when we have incentives to do so).
UNIVERSAL INSURANCE...
While you're considering changes in health insurance, we citizens who support you financially also suggest that you forget about "universalizing" health care and changing retirement rules until all of you officials (and also public employees and unions) agree to accept the same formula that would apply to the rest of us... and to remove or tax your own perks in the process of taxing ours. We also encourage you to limit the coverage of such insurance to full-fledged citizens.
(R.A.T encourages you to add your own civilly stated suggestions in the COMMENTS section).
Before you think about selling Americans on little cars, you might seriously think about establishing a separate lane for for all those huge trucks which clog our highways, overpowering us dangerously in size and making it impossible to see the view (and signs) ahead. To be effective, those truck lanes would have to be far left to help our visibility, or possibly on a separate highway.
Small-child car seats figure into the small-car quotient as well. How can a mother of more than one small child get them into a little car; how can she reach in and extricate them without popping her back out of place... ? (There's a reason young families prefer large cars, and we have the intelligence and ability and techno-savvy to come up with economical engines in larger vehicles... especially when we have incentives to do so).
UNIVERSAL INSURANCE...
While you're considering changes in health insurance, we citizens who support you financially also suggest that you forget about "universalizing" health care and changing retirement rules until all of you officials (and also public employees and unions) agree to accept the same formula that would apply to the rest of us... and to remove or tax your own perks in the process of taxing ours. We also encourage you to limit the coverage of such insurance to full-fledged citizens.
(R.A.T encourages you to add your own civilly stated suggestions in the COMMENTS section).
HYPOCRISY IN MOTION...
Last week I read an interview with bicyclists who complained about the resentment and lack of respect they receive from motorists on the highway, who often get impatient to pass their slower-speed bicycles.
The bicyclists were asked why they don't make use of the many scenic, paved bicycle and hiking trails that have been established through our rural and urban communities.
Their answer? They don't like sharing with people on foot, "because we'd have to cope with them slowing us down. You never can tell when you'll come around a bend or over a hill, and there those walkers and joggers will be in your way!"
DUH! Aren't they displaying the very attitude they complain about in motorists?
R.A.T. (Rose About Town)
The bicyclists were asked why they don't make use of the many scenic, paved bicycle and hiking trails that have been established through our rural and urban communities.
Their answer? They don't like sharing with people on foot, "because we'd have to cope with them slowing us down. You never can tell when you'll come around a bend or over a hill, and there those walkers and joggers will be in your way!"
DUH! Aren't they displaying the very attitude they complain about in motorists?
R.A.T. (Rose About Town)
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