It’s a Joke, Right?
Mon., July 28, 11:29 PM
It must be a joke, and I just don’t get it. The whole thing can’t be serious.
Last week there was a letter to the editor complaining about the seat belt law. The writer said that some people couldn’t use seat belts and that the fines were much too high. The police are cracking down on people who don’t wear their seat belts, and the writer was obviously one of those who got caught.
There were a couple of answers to that letter this weekend. The first took issue with the original letter, saying in part:
…seat belts are indeed for everyone. There are extenders made for those who are too large to fit into the standard belts. There are clips to change the belts for people like me, who find that the belt falls too high (like my face). There are pads and covers to ease rubbing on your neck or shoulder.
The fines are too high? Let me suggest some harsher penalties, like loss of your insurance, because why should an insurer cover your willful lack of protection; or loss of your driving license, because your attitude endangers the rest of the population.
Get with it – the world is not always easy. If you are old enough to operate a motor vehicle, you are old enough to learn some of the facts of life.
I thought that one was pretty good. The second response, however, sided with the original letter writer. She wasn’t arguing the fact that seat belts save lives, she just thought that no one should be forced to wear them. It was interfering with your body, she said; “remember Roe vs. Wade.”
What? Choosing whether to wear your seatbelt is like choosing to have an abortion? She couldn’t be serious. Well, I couldn’t believe the first letter either. Why should the Letters column be more trustworthy than any other part of the newspaper? I suspect that the whole thing may have been a plant to see whether people are reading the paper.
On an entirely different subject, has anyone noticed that the same person who has trouble pronouncing “noo-cyoo-ler” is referring to the residents of Monrovia as “librarians”? Well, if his own librarian can’t stop him, we’ll just have to go on trying to read his mind.
