Sunday, May 16, 2010

This old gelapi

I recently bought a new car from a friend who is moving to Boston.  I bought it because my last car was a lemon and this new car will be a lot more reliable.  I also got a great deal on it because the hood had some minor cosmetic damage from a fender bender.  If you know me, this type of thing doesn't bother me one bit.  I drove an 82' Caprice classic in high school that was called "The Boat", "The Godfather", and "The Brown Bomber".  It also had no AC in Florida among many other problems.  My recent lemon actually had the back window duct taped on because it had collapsed!

I bring this up because twice in the last week I've had mechanics who saw my car in a parking lot offer to fix the hood on the cheap and one of the guys told me that it was going to fly up on me.  I politely told them "No thank you".  It got me to thinking about cars and how anal we can be with them.  I've seen people take up two parking spots, drive around parking lots for a carefully selected space, and getting upset over the slightest scratch or dent.  Why do we make such a big deal out of these things?  At the end of the day, it's just a car!

I think of two stories that I've heard relating to damaged cars.  The late Randy Pausch (of "The Last Lecture" fame) tells a story where he had bought a brand new convertible.  He was going to take his niece and nephew for a ride and their mother was telling them how they had to keep the car pristine.  At the same time, he was pouring orange soda on the seat because the car was just a thing.   On the way home, the boy wasn't feeling well and he threw up in the car.  I was also listening to an interview with the Car Talk guys from NPR.  One of the guys was talking about his gelapi.  He told the story of how a lady hit him.  He rolled down the window and asked if she was alright.  After she told him that she was, he told her not to worry about it and drove off!  How much more freeing is that?