Metal coffins?

Today, driving home from work, I spent some time thinking about driving. It's an art form--some people are good at it, while others truly shouldn't have been given a license. It's amazing how we learn to drive--knowing basic rules, putting them into practice, and learning to manipulate some pretty sophisticated machinery. Just consider what the horse-and-buggy days people would think about us all in our own cars, with our air system blowing at us, with our own stereos, talking on our own cell phones... they'd be horrified.

In thinking about it, I couldn't help but think about the film Point Break and this quote, spoken by Patrick Swayze's character, Bodhi:

"It was always about us against the system. The system that kills the human spirit. To all those people inching along in their metal coffins, we show them that the human spirit is still alive."

As we see gas prices sky-rocket, while we continue to work our low-wage jobs where we are frequently under-appreciated, you can't help but think maybe the "metal coffin" analogy isn't too far off. Perhaps we, too, should be more focused on ways to keep the human spirit alive (preferably legal ways--if you've seen the movie, you'll get me here)... I dunno. Just a thought.

Finally, and in the spirit of humanity, it's been really rad to see the out-pouring of love and support to the vics of hurricane Katrina. I have yet to find a person who has not been emotionally moved by the media coverage they have seen. That's some pretty devestating shit that went down in New Orleans--but to see random groups outta nowhere rallying around (and in most instances doing a finer job than even the government)--that's impressive.

Lots to think about this week, I reckon...