how revealing!
i rode in an SUV a couple of weekends ago with a two friends and their two 2
year old sons on a trip to napa. the driver, and owner, of the SUV kept up
a constant dialogue during the whole trip about how that "f**king driver
just pulled out in front of me, doesnt he know how to drive", while the
whole time doing EXACTLY the same thing to other people, and being
completely oblivious to it. he would curse anyone that passed him, or drove
too close. he said "i dont like to go around anyone on the freeway", but
would wait, cursing, a stream of dirty words behind anyone in front of him.
once a car passed on the right which spurred another stream of complaints.
it was clear to me he was simultaneously afraid and angered by the cars
around him.
unlike katie, i did not include myself in these digressions. i let my mind
float free, watching as if from a distance; unable to believe i was part of
this awful display.
outside of the SUV, the driver was just another bumbling lawyer dude. maybe
it really IS the SUVs that makes them drive that way!
-james c
OSP - Often Steering Plenty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kelly, Katie" <kkelly@spss.com>
To: "John J. Stimson-III" <john@harlie.idsfa.net>; "Lolita and Mike"
<lomike@earthlink.net>
Cc: <Larrybsp@aol.com>; <Sethracer@aol.com>; <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 9:58 AM
Subject: RE: SUV explosion - in numbers
> This brings us to the next question: how do you know if a person has, by
our definition, a "legitimate" use for an SUV? You don't. As far as we know,
everyone could be off road drivers.
>
> Me, I developed my disdain from having met and ridden with SUV drivers.
They should not be allowed to drive.
>
> First example is my good friend and her new groom, when they traded in his
really nice GTI for an Explorer. She wouldn't drive the GTI, that's why. And
plus, the Explorer was for the "kids." That they didn't have at that time,
but they were planning ahead. And we, and this other couple, were all
sitting around at this alumni swim meet, talking about SUVs, pros and cons.
You can imagine what side I was on. This was years ago, right at the
beginning of the SUV trend, when I thought maybe my words could make a
difference. I talked about statistics and stories I had read, about SUV
drivers running people off the road and never knowing it due to the quiet
and solitude of their enlarged metallic wombs. Which they regarded as a
safety feature. "That's it, safety. That's priority one for me," said
Daniel. I knew then that I could not win.
>
> That was the beginning of my disdain, only the mild beginning, when I got
to see how these people really tick. Since then, I, too, have been run off
the road, and I can still hear the cackling.
>
> Then, about a year ago, I met up with some high school friends that I had
not seen since I was fourteen. Marla and Sonya (fake names), ever the grown
ups now, pulled up to my house in Marla's SUV monster, its name I cannot
recall, so I'll call it the GMC Subdivision.
>
> By now, I had created in my head a clear division between "us" and "them."
I knew that by getting into that vehicle, that I was crossing over to the
other side.
>
> I sat in the backseat, an unwilling guest, yet I tried to be open minded.
She was, after all, a childhood friend, and how shallow I would be to hold
this against her after all of these years.
>
> We lumbered down the road towards the restaurant, and I noticed that curbs
and things really did not matter to her. All that mattered were the people
in her way, which was everyone. I knew, with just a flick of an ankle, she
could run them all over. She knew it too, and so did Sonya, and that's why
they screamed and cursed at all the drivers, warning them of the emanate
danger, of what could happen if they wronged her, if they blocked her path.
Our path. I was guilty by association. I wanted to disintegrate.
>
> There is something I discovered about Marla, although I had not seen her
in fifteen years. She was the same person. Good on the inside, and kind, but
sensitive enough to want to rip off the head of anyone who looked at her
funny. Stacy was the toughest girl in school. She'd fight boys and win. She
gave herself tattoos, and would light her hair on fire for fun. She did not
care what anyone else thought when it came to mutuality and understanding.
>
> That is why she drives an GMC Subdivision. This tank is an extension of
her true self. People hide behind these walls of steel, thinking they are
impenetrable to the world, that they are superior. They probably run over
bunnies and laugh.
>
> I know she'd run me over if she read this. That's why I changed her name.
>
> Katie K.
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