Most of my life as a Jesuit has involved living quite close to where I've worked and or studied. So, the recent move of our school to Brighton, while remain living here in Cambridge, has forced upon us the new reality of being commuters. This means I'm spending more time driving than I normally do. And, that I'm doing so in Boston. Normally, I don't mind driving. But a single trip in this city is rarely without its tense moments, near misses or near-death experiences. The one exception is Sunday morning, when things are magically quiet and sedate on the roads. I notice that the stress of driving here means that it is the time when I'm most easily annoyed, and it's not hard to find things to be annoyed about. The other day I thought it might be nice to have a set of placards to hold up for other drivers at such moments. They would say things like:
SHUT UP AND DRIVE
(or the more polite version I saw recently: Hang up and drive)
GOT TURN SIGNALS?
APPLY BRAKES AT STOP SIGNS
NOPE, WAY BEYOND YELLOW
PICK A LANE
and for bikers:
THE RULES APPLY TO YOU TOO
HELP ME OUT, I'D RATHER NOT BE THE INSTRUMENT OF YOUR DEATH TODAY
(yeah, I realize that one's kinda long)
But mostly, SHUT UP AND DRIVE would probably take care of most of it.
I'd probably still be stressed, and this would probably prompt some creative gestures, still I think it would help me feel a little better.
Or maybe I'll just get one of these:
