Yikes, I forgot my camera today, so I will have to show the 7 and 8 candle pictures tomorrow. Meanwhile, I hope you are having a wonderful Chanuka. My wife has a fever and is relaxing today in bed. Let's pray that she gets better soon!
(update) - got the camera, and my wife is getting much better, Baruch Hashem!
I want to talk about driving for today. It is such a big spiritual test, and one that I find tremendously difficult to pass. Drivers in the USA do all sorts of annoying things like blocking the left lane.
Jeremy Clarkson, the fantastic host of the British car show Top Gear says that speed is like a type of drug, a fix that one needs. Like a smoker who craves his cigarettes, a chronic speeder is addicted to that fantastic feeling of freedom and joy that moving fast generates in him, and when a guy blocks his way, he is denying the speeder his fix. This obviously gets the speeder furious, and road rage ensues.
This is a major battle for me. I am a chronic speeder, and need to break this addiction. There are times when the roads are clear and we can enjoy the route. There are also times when we are forced to slow down, during those infamous traffic jams on our interstate highways. The worst situation for me is when the motorway is not crowded, but all the cars are scattered over the road so there is no way to pass. Why dont they get out of the way, so they can continue their pace, but let us move on???
The job therefore for me is to
1. Stop asking those questions like "why dont they just move over, blah blah blah?
2. Stop talking to people about American drivers.
3. Constantly think about the good things this country has to offer us.
4. Realize that driving is only a teeny tiny part of life; the most important thing is to be close to Hashem and to maintain our relationship with Him.
5. Play relaxing music or a Torah shiur instead of rock or techno!
6. If I get angry, pull over at the next opportunity, stop the car and just stay put (count to 10, breathe, or just do nothing) for 1-5 minutes, and then start all over again
One thing I noticed is that once I start to drive aggressively, I suddenly go into speed mode and it is much much harder to slow down and be a mentsch again. Therefore, it is wise to stop and breathe so I can slow down. Once I am back in mentsch mode, then I can start the car and drive on.
If you have any tips on how to overcome the speeding addiction, please send them to me.
It is said that our life tikkun (the purpose of our lives) lies in the very things that are very difficult for us to do. Perhaps this area is one of my tikkunim, one of the reasons for What Am I Here For Anyway!
Cheers for now!
2 comments:
I was recently compelled to attend a driver's education day for being caught speeding. Yes only 35mph in a 30 limit but I learnt one thing that has hopefully changed my driving habit.
If you hit a child when travelling at 30mph he/she has an 80% chance of survival. At 35 mph it goes down to 45% and at 40 mph down to about 22%.
Now you know that how can you speed especially in an urban area where most accidents happen and most kids are at risk!
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