That's not a call you want to get. Your son asking if you can help out because the brakes just went on his car and he drove from the east side of the city to your place without them. No, no, no! Just stay where you are and we will come get you. That's what AAA is for! Silly rabbit. I too have experienced brake failures, but I knew better than to try and drive the darn thing without brakes.
Once I had to drive up on a curb to get my car to stop after cramming it into the lowest gear and pulling the emergency brake. Once on a long drive from Texas to New York our brakes went out and we bought a ton of brake fluid and stopped every few miles to add more fluid until we could get to a place to have the line repaired. That's the result of living with a person who does not value proper car etiquette.
Poorly working cars are one of my biggest bugaboos. To me, if you truly love your family, you will show it by ensuring that your car is regularly serviced and maintained so that you will not put your loved ones in danger by asking them to drive a defective vehicle. Neither my father nor my ex understood that principle, and I often was endangered by their lack of diligence. I know it costs money to do it, and I know finances were tight, but really! The ultimate moment of awakening for me was one day when I happened to be with my father and we were headed someplace. I was a teen-ager and very idealistic. Along the way, we could see ahead a police check station. They were looking at inspection stickers.
Dad was driving a car with completely bald tires that would never have gotten by those officers. He knew it. So he pulled into the parking lot of a little country store just shy of the check station, went in, came back out, turned around and went back the way we came. I could not believe my father - a minister no less - would do something like that. It just tore me up that we were so poor that we couldn't afford proper transportation.
Which probably explains why I try so hard to keep my car running as it should - not that I am perfect in that regard (I still have to take my snow tires off!). But I do insist that my children, despite their own financial situations, do their best to maintain their cars so their family members will not be put at risk. And I will help as much as I can.
Once I had to drive up on a curb to get my car to stop after cramming it into the lowest gear and pulling the emergency brake. Once on a long drive from Texas to New York our brakes went out and we bought a ton of brake fluid and stopped every few miles to add more fluid until we could get to a place to have the line repaired. That's the result of living with a person who does not value proper car etiquette.
Poorly working cars are one of my biggest bugaboos. To me, if you truly love your family, you will show it by ensuring that your car is regularly serviced and maintained so that you will not put your loved ones in danger by asking them to drive a defective vehicle. Neither my father nor my ex understood that principle, and I often was endangered by their lack of diligence. I know it costs money to do it, and I know finances were tight, but really! The ultimate moment of awakening for me was one day when I happened to be with my father and we were headed someplace. I was a teen-ager and very idealistic. Along the way, we could see ahead a police check station. They were looking at inspection stickers.
Dad was driving a car with completely bald tires that would never have gotten by those officers. He knew it. So he pulled into the parking lot of a little country store just shy of the check station, went in, came back out, turned around and went back the way we came. I could not believe my father - a minister no less - would do something like that. It just tore me up that we were so poor that we couldn't afford proper transportation.
Which probably explains why I try so hard to keep my car running as it should - not that I am perfect in that regard (I still have to take my snow tires off!). But I do insist that my children, despite their own financial situations, do their best to maintain their cars so their family members will not be put at risk. And I will help as much as I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment