"I'M NOT TOO OLD TO DRIVE..."
William A. Wisdom

Dorothy--one of my favorite cousins--was more than 15 years my senior. For as long as I can remember I was particularly fond of her, from childhood on into adulthood. My wife Fritzi and I visited her in her home in San Francisco in about 1985, when she would have been between 65 and 70. Although diabetes had nearly robbed her of her eyesight, she still slowly drove her car around town, orienting herself by familiar landmarks the size of buildings. "I've been driving since I was ten, and I'm not going to stop just because things look a little fuzzy."

She gave us an example of her driving experience. Just the other day she was driving very slowly in the inside, left-hand lane of a four-lane road not too far from her home. She was creeping along hoping to make out a familiar billboard that signaled her next left-hand turn. Behind her was a particularly impatient young man who was tailgating her and flashing his headlights, and eventually blowing his horn. Of course Dorothy paid no attention to him, since all of her attention was focused on making the left turn.

Finally he pulled up beside her in the right-hand lane, and yelled at her: "Get off the road, you old biddy. You're too old to drive." That made her absolutely furious. "I am NOT too old to drive, you little punk," she shouted back. "I'm too BLIND to drive!!


Copyright © 2002, William A. Wisdom