I was literally run off the road by another driver today.  Nobody worry, there was ample space on the shoulder and I’m exaggerating quite a bit.  When I said literally, what I really meant was kinda almost.  But seriously, I did have an encouter on the road with another driver who, as best I can tell, must have been driving with her eyes closed.  I won’t get into the details of where we were or who drove where, but having spent some time now sitting at home going over the situation in my head, the only logical explantion is that she was driving with her eyes closed.

Any normal, intelligent person would read that sentence and argue that for me to conclude that driving with her eyes closed was the only explanation may be true, but it is not very logical at all.  Yes, I agree that the thought of driving with your eyes closed is not very logical at all, but I’ve left out one important detail… in her rear windshield was a sticker which read “In God We Trust”  My logical conclusion is that she trusts so wholly in God that she felt confortable driving with her eyes closed.

I continued down the street wondering just how much trust one must have in God before this seems like a good idea.  I’m not completely without faith in God (if pressed for an answer I would claim a very hazy western agnosticism with foundations in basic Buddhist philosophy) but I certainly don’t have faith enough to drive around blind.  I have too much respect for other people’s lives and their own individual choices to endanger theirs with my own.

The best part of the story, though, and this is the (pardon my french) honest to God truth, is that while calculating the faith-to-rationality ratio involved with driving sans vision the friendly neighborhood mormons decided to test their God by darting across the busy four lane street on their bicycles. 

Maybe it was by the hand of some benevolent God that Ms. No-Eyes didn’t squish Mr. Mormon, I don’t know (that’s the agnostic in me).  Maybe by being what they percieve to be model human beings who choose good rather than evil they are insuring themselves against bad fate (that’s the buddhist in me).  Mostly, though, I’d really just rather people leave God at home and watch where they’re going.

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