PEOPLE WHO DRIVE IN RAIN WITHOUT HEADLIGHTS

Just left the supermarket, drove home in a blinding rain, and came pretty close to an accident.  Car in front of me suddenly stops, does a U turn on a curving exit road, and I almost don’t see him because his headlights are off.  About every fifth car coming toward me on a winding, two lane road  on the way home has no headlights.  What is wrong with these people?  Okay, I know, some cars don’t have automatic headlights the way mine does, but if that’s the case, you surely are aware of the need to turn on your lights when it’s dark.

Some people make the excuse that because their dashboard is always lit, they can’t tell if their lights aren’t on.  So, you didn’t notice that you were driving in the dark?  Maybe they’re leaving their lights off to save money.  Back when I was a kid,  my Dad knew he had to turn on his headlights if it was dark or raining.  But headlights wore out quickly and were expensive to replace, so the idea of automatic headlights would have seemed like an unnecessary extravagance.  Every penny counted in those days. So maybe it’s part of living a frugal life, in the minds of these dim drivers.  They’re saving their battery,  or preserving the life of their headlights?  

Just for the record, here is the law regarding the use of  headlights in most states:

Headlights are required to be used 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise, when windshield wipers are being used, when visibility is less than 1000 feet, or when there is insufficient light or adverse weather. 

But how many times have you seen a car ticketed for breaking this law? I guess the cops are too busy chasing speeders, but people who drive without headlights in the rain or dark are just as apt to cause an accident, and they shouldn’t get by with it.                                       😡

ACTIVISTS PROTEST WHILE FARMERS PRAY FOR RAIN

Although my husband and I live in the city, we have an acre of land, and are surrounded by farmland.  As we drove past thirsty cornfields on the way to the cemetery on  Memorial Day, we thought about the anxious farmers who planted those fields. You see, my husband grew up on a farm in Nebraska, and my grandfather owned a farm in Indiana. And even though I lived in big cities like Chicago and Miami for a couple of decades, I never forgot the importance of rain.

Over the weekend, I read a fascinating book written by activist Cecile Richards, and it occurred to me that perhaps it offered an explanation of the great divide between big city liberals and heartland conservatives.   In general, people in flyover country don’t really have the time to devote their lives to activism.  They’re too busy producing the food that appears miraculously in New York and LA supermarkets for the people who live in high rise apartment buildings, and never have to  worry about mowing their lawns.

I thought about this last night while I was cleaning up my garden.  It finally rained,  so I could stop watering the flowerbeds and grass, and get to work.  I broke a pretty good sweat while down on my knees, tugging on weeds in the good, moist soil while my activist sisters in big cities were busy planning protests and hoping it wouldn't rain.  Here in the heartland,   people don’t have their heads in the clouds, they’re literally more down to earth.

I am not saying that’s good or bad; and I'm not defending either side of the political spectrum,  but it may explain the difference in the mindset of  middle America vs the east and west coasts.  Of course, we have our share of liberals and activists, especially on college campuses everywhere in the United States.  But generally speaking, people in small cities and towns in the Midwest  are more focused on just making a living and getting by, and yes, praying for rain.