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The River Reporter
VOLUME XXXIII No. 20 May 17-23, 2007 What will make our roads safe? People are desperate to know what goes on in the mind of a person, young or older, that has them get behind the wheel of a car and do any of the things that have made for the recent tragedies in our communities. What will have a person not want to drink and drive, speed, or ignore a traffic sign and dangerous road conditions? While I came to driving late in life, as a teenager I had, at best, a cavalier attitude toward my own safety and that of others. I thought rules of any kind were restrictions on my freedom and made life even duller than I already thought it was. I was later to learn through studying the philosophy Aesthetic Realism that, like every person, I was in a debate between wanting to honestly like the world—which is our deepest desire—and the desire for contempt. Eli Siegel, the American educator and founder of Aesthetic Realism, explained that contempt is the “false importance or glory” we get from making less of people and things. Contempt is as mundane as a husband day-dreaming while his wife talks to him because he feels the outside world—which she represents—doesn’t deserve his attention. And that same lack of respect which makes for dull, ordinary pain between people, can be present as a driver approaches a sharp curve in the road. Any time we feel “This world is a boring place that doesn’t make too much sense, and I can just get away from it, either by not thinking about it, or by driving as fast as I like,” we are welcoming disaster. Driving can be safe, even beautiful, when we see it as a chance to have more respect for the world, and that this is the same as taking care of ourselves. Len Bernstein Forestburgh, NY |