by Barton Timilty

Created on: January 31, 2007   Last Updated: February 27, 2010

On Commuting

There is something about commuting that is bad for the soul. Reasonable people are free to differ as to the existence of a soul and its true nature, if it does exist. For the present purpose, let us simply say that the soul is the part of us that dies each day we wake up to the sound of an alarm clock, battle our way across a congested city, work a full day and then fight our way home. That does not sound like a fit way for a human to live.

Commuting by automobile affords the individual a sense of freedom, which is the essential element in the American way of life, according to my civics lessons. In theory, each driver can choose his or her route, speed and even the Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks at which to purchase the life-sustaining caffeinated beverage which makes the process detailed in the first paragraph possible.

In reality, no matter which road you take, the traffic is awful. Man has an almost infinite capacity for inhumanity to his fellow man, and as large a capacity for inhumanity to himself. Automobile traffic is but one of manifestations of the latter phenomenon. Who can sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the wistfully named freeways of this country and deny that humans are inherently masochistic. Every day people on our highways lose the capability to manage their own anger in dramatic and often deadly ways; the event has its own alliterative moniker road rage. And yet people still go through this nightmare, mostly through their own choice.

It is true that people need to work to eat, and sometimes they need to drive automobiles to do their jobs. These unfortunates are not the only ones who drive to work though. There are some who crawl along congested highways and surface streets because they refuse take a train or bus. All the while, pollution is increasing at an alarming rate, and parking spaces are hunted to extinction. Gas prices are too high, and getting higher by the minute. All signs point to these problems getting worse before they get better. Commuting by car has a very high price for the artificial sense of freedom it lends its victims.

Commuting by mass transit is better for the environment. It is also less stressful than car travel, in theory. I, for one, would not presume to suggest this to a harried commuter mystified by the sudden metamorphosis of the 7:42 bus into the 8:03 on the morning they had the early meeting. When the bus/train delivers you to the appropriate place at the appointed time, it seems like a minor miracle,

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