Driving

By: Jennifer

On the outside sky blue metallic paint glistens unless it’s covered by a film of dust due to a lack of care to even wash it; rubber tires as dark as tar grab the road with their treads and the hubcaps spin so fast they’re a blur; a miniature shark fin rests on the top as if the car is the mechanical equivalent of the ferocious beast of the sea. On the inside beige leather interior that even the old Chrysler spokesperson Ricardo Montalban would praise; powerful speakers that unfortunately distort the sound as the volume goes up play the same CDs over and over; the cup holders always hold red slushies from 7-11; jackets accumulate in the backseats over time eventually over taking them completely; a squeegee, that was slightly destroyed when a friend slammed the door on it, lays in the backseat all year round; the trunk is filled with dirty clothes from sports; the trunk is opened with discretion. This is my car. On the road it is just a dirty blue Volvo in the same rat race of driving with millions of others; there is nothing special about the Volvo in traffic; it becomes part of the industrial ocean of cars; the Volvo isn’t flashy, luxurious, rusty, or broken down. It is an average car on the road and if one saw a bird’s eye view of it on the road it would not appear special either. However boring it appears with the millions of other cars, the inside of my car is its own world where my personality shines through.



When a car is in motion, the rumbling, roaring, and rolling sensations bring pride to the owner; a sense of freedom is also brought to the owners mind; the open road will forever stay long and smooth if the driver always brings a sense of pride and freedom when driving. If only traffic didn’t exist. An abrupt stop in the mind’s highway of peace is made as a driver enters into a world filled frustration and irritability due to traffic. People all over the world experience the frustrations of traffic everyday; driving is an activity most view as a means of independence, but traffic shatters all the ideals of driving in as quick as five minutes. The mind is hastily vexed by all of the complications created by other drivers for the relaxing highway for it can no longer rest; time and time again the mind has gone into a frenzy of fear and anxiety by the failure of other drivers to utilize safe driving skills like using a turn signal. If drivers are going to keep their sanity, all drivers should follow some simple rules that already exist: go the speed limit, use turn signals, and drive in the correct lane. After sitting at a red light one evening while driving a white van sat to my left, the light turned green and we both proceeded to go; we had crossed the intersection when for no reason the van began to merge into my lane and almost right into me. Fortunately, I braked and nothing happened. My poor mind however was on edge the rest of the night.



On the occasion that I’m on the road practically by myself in my car it is one of the most relaxing activities I have ever taken part in. Automobile is composed of two parts the word auto and the word mobile. The first means self in Greek and the latter means moving in French therefore automobile means self moving. Self moving is a beautiful phrase that suggests balance to the mind; balance is what an automobile should bring to its owner; when the driver can feel the wheels hugging the ground and moving so fluidly over the earth, a calming sense of stillness and motion overwhelm the mind and body. The windows glide down with the touch of a button and all of a sudden the driver can experience the natural world once more. The hum of the wheels on the road is broken up by wind rushing in the car, and by animals living out their lives in nature; one’s ears are thrown back into tornado of natural sounds instead of the dull artificial mechanical sounds constantly droning. Petaluma drivers are privileged to enjoy some of the most pungent air in the world; as disgusting as manure is to smell at least it is something real instead of man made air fresheners that overwhelm one’s nostrils and distort all other scents. The eyes are brought out of a world of boxes and into a world of organic shapes that have no fixed borders; as one’s eyes become exposed to the outdoor sights they begin to relax; information isn’t being shoved in front of one’s eyes; everything is taken in simply as it is.

Driving can be the most stressful activity or the most calming; in either case driving will bring out a person's personality; it could be seen by the clutter in the car, the person's reactions to bad drivers, the music the person is playing, the paint the person chose for the car, or the serene routes a person likes to take. Driving brings people closer to their inner thoughts no matter how subtle like changing a song or how palpable like cursing another driver for his or her mistake. People become in tune with their mind while driving; whether the mind is in a peaceful state or a chaotic state depends on the circumstances. It is a Zen like activity that goes largely unnoticed by drivers. If a person takes the time to go on a drive for themselves, hopefully, this Zen like state will become clear and driving can play a more significant role in a person's life.