The only way to fly...

Everyday I take the local Metra train to work. This is because I work an obscenely long way from where I live, around 60+ miles away. The fastest I’ve ever driven it is 1h 20m, the longest was 3hrs 32m while average is about 2hrs. The train ride itself is two hours and I find that riding in a train for two hours is far less stressful than driving for two hours.

I live around the Chicago area and driving 60+ miles through the 3rd largest city in the U.S. is nothing like driving 60+ miles between Kalamazoo, Michigan and Grand Rapids. You can't drive it in an hour at 7:00am and pop out of your car in the parking lot at work.

What you get to do in Chicago is sit behind someone who's sitting behind someone that's sitting behind someone else who ate 2 bran muffins and drank 4 cups of coffee 30 minutes ago. While deep angst has set in from still being in their car and the concentration required to keep their clothes from becoming soiled, they're feeling a bit on tetchy.

In other words, you find people with attitudes. The kind of attitudes that do not make “love thy neighbor” an easy thing to do.

Most attitudes are the old favorites, a little, retired lady/man staring out at the world between the top of the dashboard and the top of the steering wheel driving in the fast lane at 50 mph. They’re on the highway at rush hour because you just can’t beat grocery shopping early in the morning when nobody else is there. Then there’s Young Miss Thang jabbering on her cell phone driving Daddy's Sweet 16 b-day present at 200 mph while she cuts everyone off and can't understand why people are rude enough to honk at her and what’s with all those screeching brakes anyway? Don’t these idiots know how to drive?? Finally, let’s not forget Mrs. There's No Time Like the Present To Apply Mascara or Mr. Screw You, It's all about Me and My Mercedes/Lexus/BMW…but everyone has seen these people before.

What I like are the really novel attitudes - The 80 year old guy behind you that’s flipping you off and vocally questioning your parentage. He’s so close to your rear bumper that if he sneezed, you could hand him a hanky and politely request that next time, could he cover his mouth? You are going 70mph and he wants to pass you. Really, really badly. You find out how badly when he whips around you at the speed of light, swaying over a 1½ lanes of traffic, putting his life, your life, and several other peoples lives in jeopardy to get in front of you so that he has the freedom to go 71 mph. He’s not actually drunk, just old and pissed off at whatever. But on the other hand, all is now right in his world and that's really all he wanted, especially since now, you’re out of his way. So because he is now exhibiting all the calmness and tranquility of a tropical breeze, it's absolutely NO surprise when he slows down to let a cute, any age woman get in front of him with all the courtesy of Cyrano De Bergerac.

Of all these negative attitudes there is one that I LOVE because it isn't negative, it's polite. It is what's supposed to happen. In my ideal world of highway driving, THIS is the way it should be. The very rare instance when someone in front of you actually notices you coming up behind them on a major highway and pulls out of your lane so that you can float on by at the requisite Faster Than You Should Be Going Anyway speed. It’s always a stunner here in the big city where the popular attitude is “What? YOU want something from ME? Write a note and I’ll get back to you.” When it happens to me I make sure to do that three more times before I drive like I own the entire road again.

After all, we all live in the world and why shouldn’t we spread a little love, eh?