Blog 713- 08.05.2017
Another Speeding Ticket

Some gifts are not as pleasant to receive as others. On a recent Sunday afternoon, barely yards from my turn off the highway, a friendly sheriff’s department person pulled me over to present me such a gift. “Do know know why I pulled you over, Mr. White?” Why was he talking to my Dad? They really need to get some new material, like: “Here’s your ticket to the policeman’s ball, Mr. White.” Yes, I was speeding – barely ten miles over and on a stretch of straight highway clearly designed for greater speeds and where usually I set my cruise control for five miles over the speed limit and even then have cars zipping passed me like I am standing still. He got me and I took my ticket like a man, not a smiling man as I usually am, but not denying my guilt or pleading mercy either.

It is and has long been my opinion that most speeding tickets do not promote public safety so much as provide a source of revenue for paying for other public services. At $175.00 a pop this young deputy alone probably does a great deal to bring in funds to support the county business providing pay for others who do actually protect and serve.

This was not my first speeding ticket though usually several years and a lot of miles separate them. I may not have quite logged a million driving miles yet but I must be getting close. Receiving a speeding ticket is never one of the most fun things that happens and I confess that I really have to look hard to find the gift in it. What immediately comes to mind is the reminder that I am not perfect, nor the best most attentive driver – who knew. But beyond the obvious I struggled and then it hit me. “Okay now that you know, tell on yourself.” So I told two people right away whose opinion of me matters to me. To paraphrase the Mack Davis song, “It’s not so hard to be humble when you are imperfect in so many ways.”

Days later I was still looking for the “gift” in getting a speeding ticket and asking the Universe to fix the ticket. I don’t know any County judges or cops here in Wisconsin so I will just pay the fine. I got my answer this morning in a text straight to my heart from the Universe. It read, “Pay the ticket, Speedy. (I love it when the Universe refers to me by pet names.) And write a blog about it, Hemmingway. That is what writers do to shake it off and get ready to receive the next gift.”

Your friend and fellow traveler,
(Can you believe it? The Universe called me Hemingway.)
David White