Taxicabs and Motorcars (and Rhinos)

One of the things I dislike about The Homestead is the street noise. We have a large lot, set back from the street, but it is in town, and there is plenty of traffic. Even worse, Parowan has become a bit of a second home, vacation home destination for Las Vegas and southern California. As a result, we are flooded every weekend with the motorhead crowd. I'm guessing that it is a great deal of fun and a big "country living" sort of thing to ride your ATV, Jeep, Pick-up, Rhino, etc up and down the streets of a small town. Every summer weekend, there is a steady background roar of recreational vehicles up and down the streets, and up and down, and up and down. Fun.

Actually, I have nothing against motors. In fact, I benefit tremendously from motors; they make my life better. I guess what bugs me a little bit is that it is simply joy-riding. It is noise for the sake of noise. It is engine revving for leisure. Which, I guess, is still fine . . . except that every headline every day is about how terrible it is that we can't afford pensions and medical care and that we're broke and nobody has a job and gas is too expensive and the sky is falling and won't somebody do something and I deserve a bailout. Um. No. I don't believe any of it. Not while half of Las Vegas is roaring up and down my street with the throttle open. When motors are used because we need them, not because we just like to listen to the turbo open as we push the pedal down, I'll start to worry that we are running out of cash.

G.K. Chesterton is, perhaps, the most quotable writer to have ever lived. He made note of my problem about 100 years ago: "It is customary to complain of the bustle and strenuousness of our epoch. But in truth the chief mark of our epoch is a profound laziness and fatigue; and the fact is that the real laziness is the cause of the apparent bustle. Take one quite external case; the streets are noisy with taxicabs and motorcars; but this is not due to human activity but to human repose. There would be less bustle if there were more activity, if people were simply walking about. Our world would be more silent if it were more strenuous." Amen. Let there be quiet.