Forced Patience

The alarm on my car uses the horn for the alert. When it goes off, the horn honks in one second intervals with less than a second between each honk. Last week the horn in my car went off, but it was constant. I had to go out to the car and hit the center of the steering wheel to get it to turn off. It happened about 3 other times bringing people from all over the neighborhood wondering what idiot was sitting in his car laying on the horn.

Well, now my horn doesn’t work.

I never realized how impatient a driver I am and how much I used my horn. Yesterday, for example, I’m sitting at an intersection in the left turn lane. With two cars ahead of me, we get the green arrow. The first car goes. The second car just sits there.

And waits.

And waits.

I instinctively slam my palm to the horn. It’s like taking a huge swing with a bat and missing the ball. I felt so helpless. In spite of already knowing his track record for seeing lights, I tried flashing my brights at him. It probably didn’t help that it was early afternoon, either. After what felt to be about 7 hours, he finally went.

I take a one-lane road to the Brandcenter each day. The speed limit is 45, but it seems that everyone on the road thinks it’s only 30. Everyday while passing the speed limit signs I honk and point at the sign hoping that the slow driver in front of me tries to see what I’m pointing at. Imagine how frustrating it has been to have to slow down to 30 miles an hour and just live with it.

Although I’ve repeatedly considered buying an air-horn to ride shotgun while I drive, I don’t think I will. I do miss my horn, this has been a great way for me to learn patience in a way that keeps my childish frustrations inside a moving car where nobody can hear them.

Elephant Self-Portrait

I know that this elephant was trained to do this, but it’s still pretty freakin’ impressive: