The Race Is Over, And You Lost
Dear Avid Reader,
Alright, so you're out there driving. You are on an access road and are trying to get onto the freeway. So you take your exit, and you get ready to merge.
But as you approach the freeway, every other car starts to speed up and won't allow you to pass. As soon as one passes, another one speeds up. They refuse to allow you in front of them.
And now you're running out of merge lane. The cars continue to race ahead. Fear grips you. There's no way out. A crash is eminent. What do you do?
Pop Quiz Hotshot
To me, this scenario is a product of a disorder. We'll call this disorder "Stuck In Race Mode". People with SIRM are engaged in a race everyday they drive. They are not going to allow someone else in front of them because then they would be "losing". If they get in front of you, then they are "winning" and have "beaten" you. But where are they racing to?
See, being in a race means that there is a starting point and an ending point. But victims of SIRM fail to realize that they started somewhere completely different, and are going to finish somewhere different too. You can't beat 100 people to your office if they aren't even going to your office in the first place. So this really isn't a race. In fact, I'll bet someone else started from where your house is and was headed to where your office is and got there before you did...several years ago...in a horse-drawn buggy!
How does that taste? You just got beaten by a horse-drawn buggy.
There Is A Bomb On This Post
Look, I know it feels like a race out there. There are cars, it's fast, and there are people in front and behind you. But just remember: there is no "front" of traffic. There will always be someone in "front" of you. Quit trying to "beat" everyone. It's meaningless. You will NOT be getting a trophy.
But if it makes you feel better, there will always be someone behind you too. So, you "win", okay? You're awesome. You're number one, or whatever. I hope you're happy.
Alright, so you're out there driving. You are on an access road and are trying to get onto the freeway. So you take your exit, and you get ready to merge.
But as you approach the freeway, every other car starts to speed up and won't allow you to pass. As soon as one passes, another one speeds up. They refuse to allow you in front of them.
And now you're running out of merge lane. The cars continue to race ahead. Fear grips you. There's no way out. A crash is eminent. What do you do?
Pop Quiz Hotshot
To me, this scenario is a product of a disorder. We'll call this disorder "Stuck In Race Mode". People with SIRM are engaged in a race everyday they drive. They are not going to allow someone else in front of them because then they would be "losing". If they get in front of you, then they are "winning" and have "beaten" you. But where are they racing to?
See, being in a race means that there is a starting point and an ending point. But victims of SIRM fail to realize that they started somewhere completely different, and are going to finish somewhere different too. You can't beat 100 people to your office if they aren't even going to your office in the first place. So this really isn't a race. In fact, I'll bet someone else started from where your house is and was headed to where your office is and got there before you did...several years ago...in a horse-drawn buggy!
How does that taste? You just got beaten by a horse-drawn buggy.
There Is A Bomb On This Post
Look, I know it feels like a race out there. There are cars, it's fast, and there are people in front and behind you. But just remember: there is no "front" of traffic. There will always be someone in "front" of you. Quit trying to "beat" everyone. It's meaningless. You will NOT be getting a trophy.
But if it makes you feel better, there will always be someone behind you too. So, you "win", okay? You're awesome. You're number one, or whatever. I hope you're happy.
The Next Post Promises To Be Better,
James
James
posted by James at 7:37 PM
10 Comments:
My blog is to celebrity as your blog is to driving. Having said that, I find that you have also pinpiointed another societal ill namely, that we feel the need to "win" at the expense of others. As someone who deals with high school students all day and then becomes a student at night, I think this is reflected early on here in the U.S. For some reason some people can only define victory in terms of bvettering someone else. To me it seems that any kind of victory should be defined by what you hoped you could accomplish, but it seems to me that a vast segment of the population only concerns itself with being slightly better than those around them. The school of thought seems to be that as long as I'm better than Mr. X, then I am good. This type of reasoning is why we see our society slipping morally. We are not all trying to achieve a higher moral standard, but rather to stay just above the lowest moral standard which these days is fairly low.
Also, I hate it when people won't speed up in the merge lane and they kinda stop traffic inching out onto the freeway. Merge, for the love of everything holy!!!
My brother is afraid of the internet. Something about fear of inadequacy or demons.
This is to prove that you can post without a username.
Response to web master;
In regards to you recent post the race is over and you lost. Has it ever occurred to you that the reason that people don’t want to let you on the highway in front of them is because you drive like an old lady. Yes I know it’s true I once let you on and had to slow to your cumbersome pace of forty miles an hour. I don’t know where you are from, but most places have laws against driving that slow on their highways. Also maybe the fact that you have a huge gaping dent on the side of your truck may tip them off to the fact that you suck as a driver and probably can’t even find the twenty seven hundred block of Lubbock. P.S. something tells me there’s a story about that dent and your wife’s black eye, none of my business though.
So, you've overcome your fears and demons.
Bravo brother.
Nice points. I definitely think SIRM is way passed the epidemic level and has officially become a sociological force unto itself. And it's the worst out in Texas where tiny soccer moms drive Escalades and expect you to yield to them.
I'm gonna post on my blog about driving pretty soon as well, but taking a different tack:
I think people don't let others in because they feel "entitled to the roadway". They think they're in control of what happens on the road, so they assert that prerogative. But when others do the same to them, they feel that loss of "control" and this creates stress inevitably leading to "road rage". I'll post it tomorrow sometime.
It's like merging is a metaphor for the "personal responsibility" versus "entitlement/rights" argument.
Where does one draw the line?
My dad used to warn me about this. He'd say, "People who drive should not try to compete because on the road we have a common goal. To get were we are going as quickly and safely as possible. We are more like one organism than Nascar event. Red blood cells don't edge each other out. They let others merge. If we all drove this way there would be no traffic, fewer accidents and we'd all get there faster without speeding."
This was his famous "Highways of Life" Speech.
ah yes relativity on the road. cheers.
Have you heard about the two guys camping? A bear showed up and they were trying to decide what to do when one looked at the other and said, "Hey dude - Why are you putting on your running shoes - you can't out run that bear." His friend replyed, " I don't have to out run the bear - I just have to out run you!"
I practice "space cushion" driving. Keep a nice space between your car and everyone else.
Also I have a theory - if you let ten people go when they are trying to get in (one at a time) the next time you need to merge or whatever someone will let you in. Try it! If nothing else it is entertaining and occupies some time during the commute. If that fails just turn up the radio and gun it.
DJWB
update you bum!
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