Meditation 121
Divine Providence on the Highway?
To open a discussion on this article, please use the contact page to provide your comments.
I sometimes worry about the attitudes of other drivers on the road, particularly those who like to stick fish symbols on the trunk. Are they really concerned about the safety of others? If they believe in Rapture and expect to be raised bodily into the heavens at any moment, are they concerned about the effect their suddenly driverless car will have on others? And if they believe everything is preordained by God, do they feel the need to pay attention while driving? Do these people believe in road safety?Suspicions confirmed!
In a letter to the editor of the June 2003 edition of Westworld, the magazine of the Alberta Motor Association (AMA,) Neil Godwin of Edmonton writes:
AMA can preach all it wants about making Alberta's roads safer and saving lives, but AMA is not in the driver's seat. It is fate when someone dies in a traffic accident, and there are no acts, administrations, laws, preventions, protections, regulations or rules more powerful than God.
Scary concept isn't it! Don't worry about road safety; God is looking after it. And people with this viewpoint are sharing the road with us!
I wrote the following to Westworld in response, though I don't expect it to be published:
Sirs:
I read Neil Godwin's views (Letters - June 2003) on road safety with some concern. If he really believes what he wrote, then I suggest he not drive unless his God indicates that it is His will by personally inserting the key in the ignition and starting the car. Alternatively, I suggest that Mr. Godwin trade in the model of God he is now using for a more advanced version of God who teaches we have to accept full personal responsibility for our actions, including road safety.
John Tyrrell