18 inches of attitude

Not long ago my bride and I drove north to Lewisville to visit our newest grandson, and of course his parents. As we blasted north we were able to legally participate in the traffic phenomenon known as the HOV lane..high occupancy vehicle. Now, I'm not sure you could really describe two people in a blazer as "high occupancy" We had plenty of room for another two or three. Of course if you were able to squeeze in four or five more, now that would be high occupancy.

Anyway, early in entering the HOV lane the traffic in the regular lanes were moving at the same speed as those of us fortunate to have a travel companion. This was annoying. Why have a lane just for those of us who could cultivate and keep relationships and then move along at the same speed as the loners? Then the most marvelous thing happened, traffic in the regular lanes slowed down! Yes! Now we really have something. With my nose just a little higher in the air, I could really scoot by those lonely suckers in the other lanes.

So we blasted along, smug in our HOV-ness. Going through downtown Dallas the HOV lane disappears. We have been funneled into the crowd. How can it be that one minute you are flying along as one of the privileged, then due to some stupid striping machine you are just another car in a long line of other cars. Eighteen inches separated the attitude of privilege from the beaten masses.

Of course I have been on the other side of the line far more than the privileged side. For years I commuted from south of Dallas to north of Dallas, every day, one hour each way, by myself, hoping that those snobs in the HOV lane would run into a bottleneck and have to watch the rest of us creep by on the right. It would make my day to watch them fume as I slowly drove by, rarely able to hide my smirk.

You see, the attitude is not really on one side of the line or the other. The line is in our head. We divide into people into groups and decide which ones we will feel superior over. In reality circumstances decide when we are privileged and when we are common. We move back and forth over that line as easily as we do when in a car and the line is just so much lead paint on the tarmac. It is always good for me to have to drive on both sides and be disappointed when I realize that the lanes can slow and I can decide how I will handle it.

Boy, if you really want to get me started let me tell you what I think about the grocery store lines.

Godspeed.
Don