The Wrong Side of my Car
The blog that wants to go obsolete
Coming of age in our Car society
Societies have a wide variety of rituals to celebrate someone’s coming to age.
Some Christian denominations have a Confirmation, or Plechtige Communie as it is called were I grew up, and until that happens you are not a full member of the Church, but still in some half baked innocent state.
Many cultures don’t just tell you that you’ve come of age, but they make you prove it. Endure the stings of your local breed of nasty ants without crying out in pain. Or survive a day in the wilderness without your parents. We’ve all heard of those stories. Closer to home, student clubs may ‘baptise’ people if they wish to become members.
With this coming of age comes some recognition and sometimes privileges to celebrate that you’re now a fully initiated member of something.
And here, in the Western nations, and in particular in English speaking nations, we have a coming-of-age ritual that befits our industrial technological prowess:
It is passing your driving test.
After passing this test, you will finally receive that coveted Driver Licence, which comes with the entitlement to use one of the city’s most prized assets — the street network. No longer are you merely begrudgingly tolerated, honked at, maybe even spat at, but you have the right to be out there, and to go to places, untethered from your parents.
Like, you can go to the mall all by yourself and it is amazing.
Finally you are a full citizen on our streets, and other people have to run and scurry out of the way for you.
Various conflicts are brewing. The city is talking about letting those uninitiated infidels on their bicycles use the streets. Worse, there is even talk about carving space out for them. What blasphemy. We all had to Pass the Test, and we all have been confined to the margins until that happened. Are they Too Good now for this?
What with those poor unwashed masses on the bus? What makes you think that they get to use an entire lane on our streets? Why can’t they get in line with everyone else? You know, good people who earned the right to be on these streets.
The established order seems under attack. Is this all a mirage? Were those years of living in the margins and shadows unnecessary after all?
I mentioned that other coming-of-age ritual back at the ancestral home, the Confirmation. One of our traditional gifts for children on that occasion is a bicycle. This is why so many kids in 7th grade seem to be on way too large bicycles. And yes they can ride to places without their parents at arm’s length. As fully respected citizens. Before they Pass the Test and get their driver licence.
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