Lethal Obsession

Anyone who follows this blog or drops in occaisionally will know I have many pet peeves and an utter disdain for the arrogant, self absorbed and inconsiderate Lebanese. But what annoys me and angers me more than anything else are negligent parents. A child is helpless and trusting and it is the parents' job to protect their children. Buying a child of 12 or 13 a quad bike in Lebanon is sheer insanity and to leave that child unsupervised to ride it without a helmet or other protection is criminally negligent in my opinion.

The fact is the Lebanese have an obsession with the internal combustion engine. Motor show season finds most people taking time off work to head down to Beirut to see the latest model and shiniest gas-guzzlers and the newest four wheel drives so they can use them to bully people off the road. It is a disgusting obsession that is turning our roads into death traps and our youth into rude, arrogant punks.

So why be surprised when parents buy their child a mini gas-guzzling death machine, they are only preparing their child to face "the real world", or at least that is how some see it.

It seems that there is no where one can go to escape the choking fumes that daily shroud Beirut, hanging over it like a beige veil. We are slowly killing ourselves and our children and any future offspring we may have and we do not seem to care.

When tragedy strikes and more young lives are lost on the roads, which these days can be any given Saturday or Sunday, parents are quick to blame the government, the lack of enforcement of traffic laws, but the blame often lies closer to home.

Early in my career I covered the Dubai Police Traffic Department's news and I would get first look at pictures from many horrific crashes. Few people know what speed and metal can do to the human body, it's not pretty. I learned early on to respect the murderous beast that resides inside each engine and to control it. The first step is controlling our tempers and passions when we step behind the wheel.

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