First Time Driving

Today, I had my first driving lesson. Within the span of 2 hours, I started the engine of the car in the driver's seat for the first time on my own and also drove up to 45 mph. Steering felt strangely familiar, but I was shocked by how sensitive the gas pedal is.

I learned that when it comes to acceleration, driving a car is nothing like riding a bike. Steering and braking have their similarities. The gas pedal is so sensitive that a minor accidental depression can lead to a sudden jerky .

Most of all, while driving I was surprised by how easy it must be for someone to crash a car if they wanted to. Lampposts, curbs, walls, other cars. So many things around that one can ram the car into. The car only stays in its lane if the driver guides it so. I don't know why I find that so surprising. Perhaps sitting in the passenger seat beside or behind a responsible driver for so many years has made me feel as though it's very difficult for one to make a car go anywhere it's not supposed to. As though the car has an inclination to follow the road and to brake smoothly. Smashing into walls. Bumping into neighboring cars. Driving onto oncoming traffic. Driving on the sidewalk. Running into a passenger. Bumping into trees. How easy it is to mess things up drastically if one wishes. What a lethal activity driving might be if the majority of the population did not miraculously wish to stay safe and follow the rules of driving.

Now that I think about it, driving a real car is a lot like what it feels like to drive in one of those car racing arcade games. I had a feeling prior to my lesson that perhaps the creators of these games make the game difficult intentionally in order to make the game more challenging or thrilling. Boy, I wish I could re-watch myself playing that game. I drove the car horribly.

Driving training should occur through a simulation firstly. Seriously, 15 minutes was not enough preparation time for me to control a car carrying two souls onto a city road with enough momentum to kill a person. The destructive capacity of a car cannot seriously be conceived and accepted within a one-hour lesson.

Driving a car is not unlike shooting a gun. If you have either a steering wheel or the trigger of a gun placed into your hand, you at once have the capacity for incomprehensibly devastating damage. You have the capacity of playing with life or death. I know I'm young still, but I feel little hesitation in saying that the minimum driving age should be increased rather than decreased. 15-year-olds are kids. 15-year-olds cannot understand the worst consequence of driving. Here I am, talking like a boomer about an age group only slightly below mine. But if humanity wishes to eradicate disease, protect the quality of food and water, and ensure architectural safety, why not more forcefully resist the things that are equally capable of devastation?

But here, perhaps we reach a philosophical uncertainty. Are humans only responsible because they know about their capacity for damage? Maybe if you restrain humanity too much by taking away their guns, reducing vehicle fatalities to zero, and banning cigarettes and liquor, they will become even more violent and destructive than before and we will end up in a Lord of the Flies-esque situation. Anyway, I don't want to talk about philosophy. I have this view in my head that philosophers and monks are arrogant and elitist. They look down upon other human beings as though the former are gods and the latter are but mere ants. Maybe this feeling is just a sense of inferiority. I'm not sure. Maybe Carl Jung or Sigmund Freud would have ideas about this. But other people must feel the same mixture of dislike and antagonism toward other groups of people. I notice that there are a lot of people who feel angry towards the rich. Personally, I think that the rich mind their own business more than the people who attack them.

Socrates said he was wise because he knew that he knew nothing. But I suspect that even if Socrates was wise, he was not so charismatic and friendly. If I had to choose between listening to Socrates or listening to Jerry Seinfeld, I think I might go with Jerry Seinfeld. Jerry Seinfeld is at times irritable and annoyed, but at least he expresses a certain humility and a desire to make others laugh. What did Socrates do for other people? (This is an honest question. I don't really know that much about Socrates. Perhaps I should have learned more about him before writing about him.)