The True American Dream
How I broke out of the car-centric matrix and why you should too.
Two years ago I drove home with my wife and brand-new, screaming son from the hospital. While this may come off as a typical situation for most Americans, for me it was the moment I started searching for a better way. I think that most parents do the same when they welcome their firstborn into the world — they try to be better, and provide a better life for their children than the one they lived. So I asked myself, “Why?” Not why he cried, but why I had to strap him in; why I couldn’t hold him instead. And don’t be mistaken, I wasn’t asking why it was the law or questioning the common sense to buckle him in whilst we hurled ourselves down the freeway at 70 mph. I asked myself, “why must we drive to live?”
What alternatives do Americans have to driving everywhere for even the most menial of tasks: getting a hair cut, taking the kids to school, grocery shopping. The most obvious betrayal of our vehicles is the daily commute to work.
For those who have always driven, you cannot know the freedom of not driving without experiencing it first-hand. We grow up in this world being told how to live in it, and so we don’t always question the fundamentals to truly understand them. The best I can do today to encourage you to taste the freedom of not driving is to share my experience.
I bike 30 minutes to the train station in the morning, hop on the train for 15 minutes, and then take a bus for 20 minutes. I repeat the process in reverse on the way home. In comparison to driving, I spend 10-15 minutes more commuting when I take public transit. But here’s what I gain instead:
An hour of exercise each day without the gym membership.
At least 40 minutes of my commute is spent working remotely: finishing up a few lines of code, going through emails, reporting my time on projects.
I meet new people everyday, most of which just stay acquaintances, but some have become friends: Kendall, Nick, Dustin, and others.
More time spent with my family. Because I work while traveling home, I get home sooner than if I leave work at five and wade through an hour of traffic.
Improved energy throughout the day and I’m not burned out when I get home. Biking in the morning and evening actually recharges me.
My employer pays for my commute instead of me.
So, give it try. You will undoubtedly find things you hate about public transit. Maybe it’s not even an option for you. You may be like me and, despite losing the convenience of a car, you find the conveniences of a lifestyle you’ve been missing.
Whatever boat you’re in, it suits us all to try to make life better and easier for each other. If your neighbor prefers public transit but you prefer to drive, look out for each other. After all, one more person on the bus means one less car to congest your commute.
Let us remember that the true American Dream, “…is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” Let us now return to that dream and shed our gluttonous, consumer addictions for a more united and free land, full of renewed self-worth, and human connection.