I am beginning to establish a practice of going to the woods on religious days to be closer to God or at least to feel that way. Last Sunday, I headed north of Brattleboro, Vermont after a nice dinner with some of the family. I was on Route 30 when two little cars roared by me at high speeds, their tiny motors running at a high pitch. I turned off the main road to head up a mountain, considering calling the police. But then I looked down the mountain, and there was a police cruiser coming up the highway. He obviously wasn't trying to catch them but was just tailing behind them as he and others used radios and care for the idiot drivers and the innocent people driving along Route 30.
I thought about how unlike that tactic would be in the Florida, where I have spent considerable time. There the cops would be roaring in mad pursuit of the hot-rod idiots, pushing them to drive faster and faster until they lost control of their vehicles or crashed into other vehicles. Yes, it would be much more exciting and macho to go after the speeders with top speed. Your testosterone level would find new heights, but it is not the caring thing to do.
It is much more civilized to show empathy for the speeding idiots and the people driving around them to poke along coming up behind them and using your radio to try to block them. It's hard not to join the chase and be part of the action. I salute the officer's manliness in giving up high drama for the caring and right thing to do. He made me feel God's presence Easter night.
Peter Nickerson, Philosophy Major, Class of '68, William and Mary
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