Friday, August 15, 2008

Just An Observation

I do a lot of driving in Michigan for book signings and family visits. I always kept my speed within five to eight miles of the speed limit (depending on what that speed limit was -- it is 70 on expressways in Michigan).

Then the price of gas skyrocketed.
Then I read that every additional five miles per hour increases gas use by 15%.
Then my pastor reminded us that environmental responsibility is one of our Christian duties.

Now my cruise control sits on the speed limit. I don't notice that I've been late for anything, or even that it took me appreciably longer to get anywhere.

I drove across the Mackinac Bridge for the first time last Spring. Due to construction, only one lane of traffic moved in each direction. The speed limit for loaded trucks on the Bridge is twenty miles an hour -- otherwise it is forty five. I found myself about four cars behind a loaded truck, going 20 miles an hour, on a glorious sunny day, with a view that wouldn't quit. Without that loaded truck I would have felt pressured to drive forty five -- and what I would have missed!

Sometimes slower is better.

Like my writing, maybe? More about that later.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

As I was walking with the kids the other day, they stopped to pick dandelions in the grass. I was impatient to move along (for what?) and tried to scurry them down the sidewalk. Then Nicholas gave me a dandelion and said it was for his favorite girl. Sometimes slower IS better and somehow I think that the only thing I will look back upon as being "too fast" is their childhoods.

And btw, someone else we know used to putter around WAY below the speed limit...