Tuesday, September 18, 2007

My father never drove a car

I just want to share this story which I got from CY's blog, a story which he got from Kopi. I don't know why but it made my cry. Hmm...I think it's in a sign that I've got some wires in my brain tangled up. I have wires my brain! Perhaps it's because the story meant a lot to the person who wrote it. It mattered to someone.


My father never drove a car

by Michael Gartner


My father never drove a car. Well, that's not quite right. I should say I never saw him drive a car. He quit driving in 1927, when he was 25 years old, and the last car he drove was a 1926 Whippet. "In those days," he told me when he was in his 90s, "to drive a car you had to do things with your hands, and do things with your feet, and look every which way, and I decided you could walk through life and enjoy it or drive through life and miss it."

At which point my mother, a sometimes salty Irishwoman, chimed in: "Oh, bull!" she said. "He hit a horse." "Well," my father said, "there was that, too." So my brother and I grew up in a household without a car. The neighbors all had cars the Kollingses next door had a green 1941 Dodge, the VanLaninghams across the street a gray 1936 Plymouth, the Hopsons two doors down a black 1941 Ford but we had none.


(click to show/hide)



Michael Gartner has been editor of newspapers large and small and president of NBC News. In 1997, he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing.

6 comments:

Katherine said...

This is beautiful--

"I decided you could walk through life and enjoy it or drive through life and miss it."

:)

I did not cry when I read it, but it is a nice story. :)

CY said...

You've got some cool html tricks! (I won't ask you to teach me though, since you always refuse to xD)

runawaycat said...

宝茹 - Pretty long story but you don't get bored halfway right :)

CY - SWEAT! Defense mode: When did I not teach you when you asked? Hmph! Once you asked in a restaurant about my links. I told you didn't I? And this, well, this needs codes which I don't have on my fingertips. I usually just copy paste them. I can send it to you if you want.

CY said...

Lol at Runaway's Defense Mode! xD

philos said...

That's a beautiful story... 7 rights huh? That's got to be the magic there. I should use this on one of my speech hehe... I'm glad you posted it here, its not likely to ever get posted in CM.

runawaycat said...

CY - :P

arthur - Happy I somehow helped :) Haha. Imagine josh posting it :P