The primary human transport device in our society today is the car. Our beloved vehicles, lord how I love mine. These hunks of junk become our friends, our enemies, our success, our demise, the significant other in a highly co-dependant relationship.
Today I spent 2 hours sitting on the highway, my car parked, turned off in the middle of route 95 North. A really bad accident occured around 2pm right around the time I was headed down the highway. Long story short, nobody was killed, thank goodness. However, my search for after-the-fact news on the accident has been less than successful. It seems that local news stations are only interested in the here and now. Is this a good thing?
The highway was out of control with rabid construction workers looting the streets, jumping in and out of each other’s vehicles. The National Truckers Association convened about 4 cars ahead of me, while tight-faced business men and women yapped on their cell phones, disgruntled to say the least. I shut down my engine, pulled up my e-brake, and sat quietly in my car for about 2 hours. Luckily, I had a book that I had bought for a dear friend but decided to read it myself. It worked out well since I hadn’t read the book, but wanted to read it before giving it to her, so this gave me the chance to get started. Precious moments, I am fortunate.
I’ve noticed an influx of people being pulled over lately. Today I saw a dark-skinned Hispanic Heman. His hair was long and he drove some kind of Honda truck. I felt sorry for him because the police officer was shining this flashlight directly in his eyes. Really, I could see him squinting. A damn shame. But really, we are such fragile beings.
A good friend of mine is recovering from a 24-48 hour virus that she along with 15 people who sat at the same Thanksgiving table as her came down with only hours after eating dinner. Her temperature was upwards to 102, and it was highly contagious. The family, who have blood-related medical consultants on hand ruled out food poisoning because some people came down with it the next day. If it were food poisoning, everyone would have felt the affects within a strict time frame of one another. Almost worst than food poisoning, this was a thoroughbred human virus as catchy as the Christmas jingles on the Oldies station.
It’s a scary thought, these little viruses scurrying around like mice. We’re trapped, trapped like rats in our own bodies! Like La Mettrie said in L’Homme Machine, “The human body is a machine which winds its own springs.”
Unlike a car in a co-dependant relationship with its owner, our bodies are like clocks. Enabling our selves to push forward, our automatic functions, when functioning “correctly” take us where we need to go. Like clocks we do so not without losing precious time.