Owning A Car Doesn’t Mean You Need To Drive It Every Day

It’s 12/26, the Saturday after Christmas. I’m just walking around at the top floor of our building to stretch my legs. Doing my usual Saturday urgent care shift which is from 9am-7pm. It’s noon and I have my 1-hour break usually at this time.

It’s gorgeous outside. Chilly but fresh. Hasn’t rained all day today and the sun is poking through here and there. Very gentle breeze. Riding into work this morning there was barely anyone out and about.

I looked out over the freeway and I saw this scene:

Saturday midday traffic the day after Christmas.

I am wondering to myself where everyone is going but of course they could be going into work, driving their loved ones to the hospital or going to the airport. But… let’s face it, many are going to malls, running errands and visiting with friends.

The reason I posted this photo is because I would have expected the roads to be dead. I would have expected that people would want to give the driving a rest. Maybe go for a walk or hop on their bikes. Statistically, many have posh bathrooms, multiple laptops/computers at home with access to the internet. They have 2.5 TV’s throughout the home with stacked refrigerators and plenty of ‘work’ that needs to be done to maintain their property.

Yes, I’m bitching and ranting. However, when I see the multitude of vehicles packing the freeways and polluting the air I am reminded how important it is to be less reliant on cars. I don’t own a car and that’s certain one solution but not the only solution. My good friend is a lawyer in town and owns an old car that she drives maybe 2x per month.

Driving a car creates stress, it disconnects your from the environment, it decreased your tolerance for day-to-day shit and it preoccupies your mind. As a general rule, the more things you own the more you become identified with them and the less you will be identified with who you really are.