Yesterday, another one of those persons older than 80 wanted to strike down the cyclist (me) with her big limousine. Yes, as opposed to what normally happens, this time it was a lady!
I am happy she did not succeed. But I must say I am truly annoyed (as happens frequently) when witnessing what kinds of persons still believe they can master the running of these powerful and dangerous machines called cars. Consequently, I am writing this spontaneously as a silent protest.
As I perceive it, many elderly persons define themselves through property and appearances, even at the end of their lives. And in doing so, they – more often than not in vain – chase their dream of happiness and inner freedom. Ceaseless activity will prevent critical reasoning. The car has become a life fetish.
Consequently, we still have a phenomenon in Germany that is probably unique in the world: the motto “Free Rides for Free Citizens” is considered a self-evident basic right. Which means that more than 5,000 persons still die the mobile hero’s death on our streets. More and more often, elderly persons are concerned – also as those who cause the tragedy.
Because even if the doter already forgot many things in his senile dementia, he or she is still well aware of his or her rights on the roads. Behind a steering wheel, he is the giant he would so very much have loved to be in true life. And, of course, he or she is the only person in the country who can actually drive a car. If, additionally, he or she has neither children nor grandchildren (nor a shepherd’s dog), then all that is left for him or her – except a sometimes rather strange political orientation – is his or her car. Driving a car is the last thing left you can be proud of. Until the bitter end.
And the car will be the vehicle he will use even at a very high age for strolling through the land. In order to give the car some experience, he goes to Garmisch, drives to the bakery in the morning and to the cemetery at the opposite end of town in the afternoon. At a speed he himself has decided he wants. Because, after all, he is pressed for time, isn’t he? He could easily have taken public transportation, but that is far too complicated and takes far too much time…
The motto is “Free Ride for Free Retirees“. Until the next accident happens. It might be on the parking lot, into the display window of a toy shop or as a wrong-way driver on the motorway. The “Right of the Free Ride” is something the old retirees are entitled to. A life without a car is unimaginable for them. That is what they fight for and that is what they vote for. Tin is the highest property that needs to be preserved. They worked all their lives for their cars.
Every speed limit is a violation of their personal rights. Mind you, the limitless individual mobility (especially if based on the combustion motor) has become a parable for egoism and ruthlessness. I witness the aggressions of drivers in their tin boxes when they are stuck in traffic jams or in front of traffic lights on a daily basis. Luckily, I am mostly just the spectator passing them on the cyclist’s path.
Like many other things in our society I would like to criticize, the right to unlimited mobility is based on an often strange definition of freedom. Many people seem to believe freedom means you can do whatever you feel like doing at all times. Along with a radical and extreme definition of ownership in our AEC (American European Culture), this turns our social culture of sharing into one of competitiveness. For some people, it happens in a rather unpleasant way.
For me, it is easy to explain: we humans tend to define ourselves through what we own, what we consume and what we define as mostly imagined idols. And during the last century, idol number one was and is the car. Consequently, it seems only logical that especially older people have parked their idols in their garage.
Well, I used to hope people get wiser as they grow older.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
Loading ...