Crazy Car Talk

I had a good weekend. Spent a lot of quality time with the kids which is really fun. They say the funniest things and it’s really fun to get talking to them. We were in the car like 7 hours or something, so we did a lot of chatting. At one point we were talking about cars. I told them that if I could have any car it would be a Prius. I went into how it’s good for the environment and it’s quiet, all the reasons I think I would like it (other than the actual reason that I will get to). My one son says, “Why are you specifically looking at a Toyota?” I was like, “I don’t know.” He says, “It is because of the ‘Toyota Last chance Sales Event?’” I was like, “yeah, it’s definitely because of the Toyota last chance sales event.” It was so bizarre, he said it with the exact rhythm and intonation of the commercial. I wouldn’t have come up with that on my own, but I definitely recognized it from the commercial. It shows how powerful advertising is, how it permeates our lives without us even knowing it. It’s so insidious that even our children will be parroting the words back to us to get us to succumb to the urge to buy a Toyota. Or whatever. It wasn’t really scary though, it was funny. The kids say funny things, there were other things, I just can’t remember them.

This has been covered in another blog, but I didn’t even tell my kids the real reason I want a prius. It’s not because it’s good for the environment or because it’s quiet. Although those are good corollary reasons. The real reason is because I think it is elegant, economical, and not showy in any way. Well, I shouldn’t say not showy in any way because I think a lot of people drive them to make a statement and feel all high and mighty for the environment, “We sold our Bentley and bought a Prius, we felt it was the right thing to do.” I think there is some of that out there, but that sorta makes it edgy. It’s almost like driving a Prius says “Fuck You” to the dinguses in their Porsches, BMWs, Benzs, Maseratis, Chevy Novas, etc. People that live in my neighborhood seem to gather some of their identity by what they drive. I think they think it’s important to “make a statement” with their vehicle. I think the statement they are trying to make is one of the following: I’m better than you, I have more money than you, or my parents have more money than yours and they left it to me. I just have no desire to play that game, and I think a Prius makes the statement that: Maybe I could play that game but I don’t want to, maybe I’m a tree hugger, maybe I just like crappy little quiet cars.

Back to car conversations with the kids. Well, it’s been a while since the kids had me speechless, but it happened yesterday. We were driving to meet my family for dinner, when my oldest, in 7th grade, said something to the effect of “you should’ve been an abortion” or something to one of the other kids. I said, “don’t ever say that, and abortion is a very bad thing, you shouldn’t talk about it or say those things to other people.” I mean, my kids have been to the Robert Crown Center, I think they know how the male and female reproductive systems work. Now that I think of it, I should probably sit my oldest down and have a talk. Just to make sure that he doesn’t think babies come out of women’s bellybuttons or something way off kilter. I’ll make a mental note of that. Ok. So we are sitting in the car and the word abortion is just hanging around in the air. I think one of the kids asked what an abortion was. I told them something like, “it’s a very bad thing and you are too young to understand it, but you shouldn’t talk about it.” I didn’t know what else to say. I know the boys are in Junior high, I know they talk, they should know what’s going on just from their friends. Obviously my third grade daughter has no idea. She definitely is not ready to have that discussion, maybe when she’s 25. I don’t know what more to say. I just think it’s something that everyone should consider: if you had to explain abortion to an adolescent, how would you do it? I think it would help a person to develop an opinion about it.