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Jul 6, 2008
Have you ever tried it? It's not exactly hard per say, just kind of awkward. It's different, it's fresh. Not like learning to drive again, but it makes it very obvious that yes, you are in fact driving an automobile. It definitely halts any of that sort of “dazed driving,” where your just sort of moving through motions without actually watching things pass you by. Those times when you're alone in a car and the music's pumping and you're just kind of along for the ride. In total control of the car, sure, but you're pretty much a robot with your mind off in another place. Driving with your left foot's immediately different. You notice that the distance from the up position of the pedal to the floor is actually pretty far, and that the amount of input required to get a decent increase in speed is actually quite high initially. The amount of give of the pedal itself is rather interesting, it's very loose- moving with varying degrees of pressure with slight resistance.
Sometimes we need to stop what we're doing. We need to stop just going about things aimlessly. Well, I can't speak for you all- I need to stop. Stop allowing myself to be a robot and enjoy the simple things. Don't just drive to get home, drive because it makes you feel good, because it's fun. Because there's some sick joy I get out of pushing a heavy, expensive heap of earth's rich but limited resources down the road at speeds that kill, exhaling fumes that maul the world around us. Watching the world, and people pass by rushing to get nowhere fast. Rushing to their job, as if they missed their eight hour work days oh-so-bad. Running lights and breaking speed limits as if getting to Wal-Mart is really the most important thing at that moment. Harassing people at drive-through windows because a sandwich wasn't there five seconds sooner, as if they were going to somehow better their lives had it been. Or driving at night, with a gentle breeze flowing through the car listening to some form of smooth, thumping techno or really campy bubblegum pop.
I'm not sure what exactly was going through my mind when I took my right foot off the pedal and replaced it with the left, but it was fun, enlightening. For those five minutes or so, I offered myself a glimpse at something quirky and awkward. A new perspective on things, being neither completely new or completely old. For the person who doesn't have a right foot, or feet at all, driving is a completely different experience, I'm sure. I think that this place would be a helluva lot better if we just took a few seconds every once and awhile to appreciate the ability to breathe and look at things from someone else's point of view.
