Traffic school actually taught me something....
I was the proud recipient of a speeding ticket a few months ago, and I was required to attend traffic school. All day today I sulked while thinking about the roughly four hours in which I would have to be subjected to gory traffic films and monotone lecture of the instructor, and the incessant protestations of "I shouldn't be here" by fellow attendees. What I found was absolutely nothing of the kind. My instructor only identified himself as "Mr. Peach". Mr. Peach chose to talk about life in general for the majority of the instruction time, and he loosely associated it with driving responsibility.
Of all of the things he spoke about regarding life, the thing that stuck out in my mind was his insistence that patience and wise decision-making was the key to a happy life. He stated that he thought that the 60's were a time of rebellion, the 70's were a time of disillusionment, the 80's were a time of greed, the nineties a time of apathy, and the new milllenium has been characterized by rage. I think I would have to agree with him wholeheartedly.
There are so many parts of my life that have some of the defining traits of those past decades. When I look at each one of the subjects that he talked about, I see how my own lack of patience, or my poor decision making has allowed complete happiness to elude me for many years. No, before you ask, I am not particularly unhappy or depressed, but I know I am not where I should be, or rather where I would like to be at this juncture in my life. Maybe I will add more to this, and maybe I will not.....I'm feeling kind of "nineties" right now.
I was the proud recipient of a speeding ticket a few months ago, and I was required to attend traffic school. All day today I sulked while thinking about the roughly four hours in which I would have to be subjected to gory traffic films and monotone lecture of the instructor, and the incessant protestations of "I shouldn't be here" by fellow attendees. What I found was absolutely nothing of the kind. My instructor only identified himself as "Mr. Peach". Mr. Peach chose to talk about life in general for the majority of the instruction time, and he loosely associated it with driving responsibility.
Of all of the things he spoke about regarding life, the thing that stuck out in my mind was his insistence that patience and wise decision-making was the key to a happy life. He stated that he thought that the 60's were a time of rebellion, the 70's were a time of disillusionment, the 80's were a time of greed, the nineties a time of apathy, and the new milllenium has been characterized by rage. I think I would have to agree with him wholeheartedly.
There are so many parts of my life that have some of the defining traits of those past decades. When I look at each one of the subjects that he talked about, I see how my own lack of patience, or my poor decision making has allowed complete happiness to elude me for many years. No, before you ask, I am not particularly unhappy or depressed, but I know I am not where I should be, or rather where I would like to be at this juncture in my life. Maybe I will add more to this, and maybe I will not.....I'm feeling kind of "nineties" right now.
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