It's in the Details-Stick this in Your Stick Figure

RoundMirrorNo3, originally uploaded by carolsLittleWorld.

One of the things that makes classic cars so attractive to me is the detail that went into making them. Instead of just churning out plastic bits, the cars of old were crafted. They had little round mirrors, hand polished bumpers, fancy dashboards, and lots of little trim bits. Nobody bothers with trim bits today. Nobody bothers with any “little touches” of elegance-we’re simply plunked down in the middle of a sea of plastic and electronic parts-GPS, fancy radios, air bags, and “WARNING!” stickers grace our dashboards these days. All these “WARNING! Don’t touch…” this or that stickers don’t really make for a comfortable environment. Frankly, it’s not a place I want to sit.

Sure, we have leather seats, and yes, air bags do save lives, but, come on, can’t you make them look a little bit better? Why do I have to sit in something that looks one part plastic bucket and one part electronic control room? We spend hours in our cars, can’t we have something comfortable? Is it too much to ask that you stop surrounding us with “WARNING!” stickers-I’m mean, yes, we already know we’re careening through traffic at seventy miles per hour and yes, we already know that we could crash and die and any second, but must you remind us of this each and every time we sit down? I mean, come on, we might be about to die, can’t we at least enjoy one last ride before we check out? Must we endure your attack of stick figures and yellow triangular signs with prominent exclamation marks? (Forget good intentions, I swear the road the Hell is actually paved with yellow triangular signs featuring bold exclamation marks and stick figures in odd positions.)

Maybe it’s just me and I’m getting old, but it seems like all the new cars look alike and I just can’t get too excited about a plastic bucket filled with electronic devices that beep and blink at me. I’m in the freaking car because I want to enjoy the open road, not bear the albatross of an electronic wasteland and a bunch of stick figures in peril.

Well, it’s Friday so I have to say it, may all of today’s stick figures have little light bulbs above their heads and not be the kind that get stuck in odd poses.

Until next time…