our society exists on the assumption that you own a car.
everything – from baby products to groceries are created with the assumption that the farthest you have to carry the product is from car door to front door. people who drive are your only consideration.
what about us? i want to scream sometimes. except no one cares.
life can be extremely challenging for those without cars.
when i just started college and moved to a big city, i learned what not having a driver’s license meant. what a loss of independence it is. i gave up great student digs for medicore ones, having to base my choices on where the transport was located. i choose courses around bus times, because in those days, mount royal had one bus that came every 35 minutes. it was called the circle route.
getting groceries? very difficult. you can either spend a fortune at the mom and pop shops and pick up your necessities there, or do a massive shop once every month or so, and try not to drink any milk. doing laundry? oh yes, how to get to a laundromat with two bulging bags of laundry, plus soap and softener? the list goes on, really it does.
i can’t carry objects for a long time any more. gone are the days when i could haul bags of books, or groceries up a hill. from a bus stop to my student housing.
but i can promise that i am going to do what i can to make sure that my kids have the independence of a car. transport – being able to go to a party when you want or leave it when you want, to go see someone who is on the other side of town – that freedom – is an amazing gift that i believe many people take for granted. stop at a bookstore and browse if you’re early. being able to get into a vehicle and move, wherever they want. stop where they choose. amazing.
my kids will have cars.
im not saying i will pay for them entirely myself, but i am saying i think it is very important.
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4 Replies to “the drive for independence”
OK, let’s just not get into how many cars those of us living in the southwest US might have parked around their house. From what I see around here it usually is a number larger than the quantity of drivers living in a household (not speaking from experience of course)
When you put it that way – I realize I DO take it for granted! I honestly cannot imagine not having a car. Since I live in the sticks, we would be paralyzed without one. Even by car, it takes us thirty minutes to get to Wal-Mart.
4 kids and no car, cannot begin to imagine! Don’t wanna be rude here but why don’t you have a car? Finance or too scary to drive in HK?
I was just thinking about this the other day when I saw a woman and her son waiting for our bus on a very windy day.