I’m not one who shows his emotions a whole lot. (The word “never” comes to mind.) However, a story I read yesterday in the Wall Street Journal really struck a chord with me. It was about a man who had to come to grips with the loss of his mother by finally getting rid of her favorite possession: a bright red 1994 Pontiac Bonneville.
What got the gears turning in my head with this story wasn’t the sentimental implications of honoring your mother this weekend or the tough decisions we have to make in life. Those were a given. What got me thinking was how someone who never really cared for the automobile like we enthusiasts do could still be attached to something that has become so important in our everyday lives.
Here we had a woman who saw this two-ton piece of steel and plastic as nothing more than a rolling appliance. However, every time she got behind the wheel of her big Pontiac, she felt this exhilaration and excitement that she had the ability to do what she wanted, and she could go anywhere she wanted.
That’s the underlying message here, and a very important point to understand. With the cost of gas going up, our roadways becoming more and more congested, and the constant bouts with poor/bad/aggressive drivers, it seems we as a society have taken advantage of a great privilege that hundreds of millions of people across the globe cannot enjoy for one reason or another. And then we have someone who respects and enjoys this freedom that we have in owning and operating a vehicle. And she’s not even an car person!
Now, this isn’t me getting on my soapbox ranting to the world. I just feel it is important to see and read the story for this reason, in addition to the timeliness of the holiday. Just keep it in mind as you spend time with your mother on her day of celebration.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there.
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