Car Essay, Research Paper

Sitting in the car

I did this exploriment at South Coast Plaza. I sat in my car for ten minutes in the parking in front of Macy’s. I just sat there; the first 3-4 minutes of the exploriment I was bored out of my mind. I started to notice my heart beating, my palms were sweaty, my left eye was twitching, and my stomach was making noises. All of these bodily functions were making their presence known to me. And then I noticed that I was just in a car; it is like being in my house only a lot smaller. Cars are machines but it is also shelter. It protects us from the environment, keeps us dry when it rains, keeps us warm when it is cold, keeps us cool when it is hot. It takes us to where we want to go.

In California, the car is one of the most important status symbols. It is supposed to represent our social class, our individuality, and our personality. It seems like almost everybody owns a car in Southern California. We are slaves to our car. We spend money keeping it in tip-top shape. Some of us take better care of our cars than others do. It is sad, but I am guilty of taking better care of my car than I do of my girlfriend. I’ve wasted so much money on my car that at times I wish I never had one, but in California I need one out of necessity because the public transportation sucks a big one.

After sitting in my car for ten minutes I drove back to my apartment. There I continued my exploriment. I drove around the complex and the outer streets at 10mph. It was strange to drive my car at this speed because it felt like I was a snail. Slowly making my way to wherever it was that I wanted to go. I noticed how other people were in a rush to go here and go there. Some guy behind me was honking his horn because I was going too slowly for him. Keep in mind that I am still driving around the apartment complex. As I made my way onto the street I was overtaken by 3 cars rushing to get by. A guy honked at me and gave me the finger because I was going to slow on the street. I was shocked to see how people transform as they step into their car. I know that we are not all bad people, but as soon as we are driving we transform into Mr. Hyde trying to bully other people with our cars. Maybe, this is why there’s a lot of stories about road rage and people getting into accidents, because they think that they own the road. Hopefully, some of us can grow up and not have to be such *censored*s on the road.