Life Lessons from the Highway

This is 2011 Karin-Hermione trying to make driving a little easier on the way to the HP7 premiere.

I just drove home to Cincinnati in horrendous weather that added about two hours to a six-hour drive. In the Chicago area it was sleety snow, then freezing rain, then in Indiana freezing rain, regular rain, then calm, then rain, then calm, then rain and so on all the way home. As I drove, I couldn't help but notice a couple ways the road of life is like driving on a highway in dangerous conditions.

1. Sometimes random people will throw a sheet of icy slush (insults) right in your face. Much of the time, they will not even be aware they have done so. There is no opportunity or reason to try to "avenge" yourself, so your time is best spent getting over it ASAP and staying focused on the road. Even if it happens 27 times in 60 minutes. Remember, you are probably doing this to someone else without realizing it.

2. Sometimes in life you will have water (shockingly, blindingly unexpected hard times) dumped on you repeatedly in such rapid succession your windshield wipers can't catch up and you're hurtling blind down the highway. In these cases, though you may wish to freak out, that would be the least helpful approach. Even stopping is not a fruitful possibility as you may cause a pile-up. Best is to trust that the road is still there, keep your hands steady on the wheel and keep driving as you were before until such a moment as you can see again and make informed decisions again.

3. In times when a truck rushes past you while billowing out such a vast fog that you can no longer see where the road turns or ends, keep your eyes on the taillights in front of you and be glad you are not the car at the front of the road (is there such a thing, anyway?) and you have someone to follow. When the fog takes away all the details of life, stop trying to see the invisible; instead, keep your attention on what is important and helpful to guide you and disregard the rest.

4. You are not always the best person to see what about you may need a tune-up. A passing stranger can see immediately what you may never notice on your own - like a taillight out (or spinach in your teeth or an unpleasant arrogance).