While shopping for a new car and taking a few sporty versions I could never afford for a test drive, I caught myself speeding on the interstate. The limit was clearly posted at 75 and I was pushing 80. Then I noticed the vehicle had the capacity to do 120. Why? If the maximum number of legal miles per hour a person can drive anywhere in the U.S. is 75, why make it possible to go 45 miles per hour faster? For some it's a temptation that is too great to resist.
I got to thinking about life in the fast lane. In modern days we pride ourselves on how little time we have to stop and smell the roses. We are far too busy sending and receiving e-mails, assembling vast qualities of CD's we will never listen to and pursuing a job that isn't any fun but sounds impressive at parties. It's like driving an uncomfortable little sports car -- it's fast and fun until you wrap it around a telephone pole. By setting automobiles up to go faster than the posted limit, are we being set up for a ticket; and by setting ourselves up in the fast lane, are we setting ourselves up for failure? If life only requires us to go 75, why do we insist on doing 120?
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