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This question has had me thinking for a while.

I’ve noticed that many drivers take situations during which they’re expected to yield to others as opportunities to be obnoxious.

The most common situations are when drivers merge onto a freeway – more often than not, they ignore the onramp’s YIELD sign and cut in front of others or use the onramp as a passing lane.

Another frequent situation is when drivers passing parked cars don’t wait for oncoming traffic as they’re supposed to – and force to wait drivers going the opposite direction and having the right of way.

A third example is when people enter a street – there are often times when they just pull in front of other drivers and don’t seem to care if they’re slowing down traffic.

I wonder why drivers tend to not want to yield to other drivers. Is it competitive nature with drivers? Is it arrogance? An entitlement attitude? A ‘do unto others before they do unto you’ impulse?

(afterthought: maybe the “alpha personalities” out there take advantage of those who drive defensively)

Whatever it is, it’s annoying as hell. No wonder ‘road rage’ is so common.

The last few years, I’ve tried to stay away from the media coverage of the anniversary of 9/11. It was too painful to watch – seeing the events hashed and rehashed over and over and over – the same angles, the same video, the same stories. From 2002 until 2008, each year, I made it a point to stay away from TV and radio and online news coverage from 9/10 through 9/12 – I put myself on a self-imposed media blackout each year.

I don’t think anyone should ever forget 9/11 – I just don’t want to be constantly reminded of it – it feels like once a year, the healing scab on the world’s collective psyche gets pulled away and the bleeding starts anew.

Since a lot of people are sharing this today, I will share the “where were you?” story about 9/11.

Trish and I had been married a little more than a year. We lived out in Bremerton, Washington, about an hour’s ferry ride west of Seattle. A couple of weeks before, we had found out that Trish was pregnant with Emma-Grace. A couple of weeks later, we would make the major life decision to leave Washington State and move to Ohio.

It was three hours earlier in Washington – in the Pacific time zone. It was still dark outside – about a quarter to six. I was waiting at the bus stop near my house – I took a bus to the ferry terminal in Bremerton – then took the ferry to Seattle. It made for a long commute.

I was standing at the bus stop with another guy. He had his headphones on – and suddenly he pulled them off and told me, “a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center”. I just shook my head in disbelief. We got on the bus. On the ferry, the discussion of the attacks built to a crescendo. Passengers were huddled in two corners of the cabin watching portable TVs showing coverage of the attacks. I just sat speechless and was numb.

I got to work in downtown Seattle at The Domain Group – but I’m guessing no work got done that day. Most of the people were either at their workspaces speechless and in disbelief or ducking in and out of the main conference room, where TV coverage of the attacks was being shown. Dan Lewis and Kathy Goertzen of KOMO-TV 4 were on the screen anchoring the Seattle-based coverage – alternating with ABC’s network coverage of the attacks.

After I got back to my office, I tried calling Trish – but the cell and landline phone networks were jammed and it took a couple of hours to reach her. By 12 noon, the decision had been made to send everyone home for the day. I got on the ferry that afternoon – which seemed to take forever to board due to the new impromptu security checks being made by the Washington state troopers. And when I finally got back to Bremerton that day and saw Trish, we had one of the longest hugs we had ever shared.

Eight years later, the 9/11 attacks leave me with a cauldron of emotions: mostly sadness and anger. Sadness that thousands of people died that day. Anger that an opportunity to galvanize the nation, galvanize the world was pissed away by inept and self-serving politicians. Anger and sadness that these politicians have used the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to introduce wanton invasions of personal privacy in the name of security. Anger that 9/11 is still used as an excuse to frequently and unnecessarily extend the hand of “big brother”. Anger that I can’t even go to the airport anymore without being subjected to the “security theater” put on by the TSA and practically having to endure a full body cavity search to get past the gate at the airport and onto the plane. Anger that 9/11 was the de facto end of having a “loyal opposition” in US politics – and started a period of many politicians equating disagreement with disloyalty; it still lingers today even nine months after the departure of George W. Bush.

What happened on 9/11 was a tragic but necessary “wake-up call” in many ways for the United States – and for the rest of the world. I just wish its aftermath would have been more of a collective learning experience than an excuse for a political power grab and justification to erode personal privacy and civil liberties.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve given up on trying “New Year’s Resolutions” in favor of giving up things for Lent.

In prior years during Lent, I’ve given up eating out for lunch, eating cookies, swearing, and other personal less-than-ideal indulgences and habits.

This year, I’ve given myself a two-pronged challenge of self-denial for the Lenten season:
1) I’m planning to give up drinking Coke, Pepsi, or other carbonated beverages. and,
2) I’m planning to give up my penchant for being sarcastic behind the wheel towards other drivers. I am going to try to ditch my “road sarcasm” during Lent.

The latter will be the more challenging of the two things I’m planning to give up. We’ll see how it goes. Updates in this blog and on Twitter. :)