People who don’t drive

I really dislike people who never learn to drive and live in the suburbs.

I have been blessed with wonderfully generous parents.  When I was growing up, I was subject to being driven around all over Toronto in an over-filled sedan on Sunday afternoons because my parents were driving people home.  While I think this was very philanthropic of them, I came to resent the people who stole my precious time because they were too chicken to learn to drive.

I have nothing against people who don’t have a car for valid reasons: can’t afford it, live in the heart of downtown, etc.  But people were getting rides from my parents because they couldn’t drive on the highway, they couldn’t drive a minivan, they couldn’t drive in Canada, whatever.

Having spent many hours sitting “bitch” due to these circumstances gave me the resolve to learn to drive as early as possible so that I would never become one of those women.

A family friend of ours has two children, their daughter is 25, the son is 21.  Neither of them drive.  The mother spends all of her days driving her kids around because they’re too lazy to get up in the morning to take the bus.  She also earns all the money for the family because the children don’t contribute.  I just don’t understand how the mother lives with this.  Force them to drive!  Encouraging this behaviour doesn’t let the kids become independent…ever.  I mean, they’re already legally adults, and they’re being driven to school because they’re too lazy to take the bus?  Come ON!  They even go to the same school.  They could drive themselves to school.  Some parents don’t understand the difference between making sacrifices for their children and crippling their maturation.

An old acquaintence of mine refuses to learn to drive because she “doesn’t want to kill someone.”  I can’t even put into words how ridiculous I find this excuse to be.  You don’t want to risk the small chance of killing someone, but you don’t mind inconveniencing the people around you all the time?  Idiot.

Now, the kids in my church aren’t learning to drive either!  I think a bunch of them have their G1s, but they’re not using them (i.e. not learning) and they’re all 18, 19, 20 years old.  Really, they should have their G2s by then.  I think they just don’t realize how much work they could save their parents if only they learned to drive.

Learn to drive, or don’t rely on others to take you places.