While on my way with a vase of flowers and herbs filled with water to a great-aunt’s birthday celebration, I noticed how carefully I drove to keep any water from spilling. Gentle stops, careful turns, slow accelerations, to manage the sloshing inside the vase.
And then the realization: I don’t drive that carefully with the kids, dogs, or other people in the car. Though they’re all made mostly of water, they’re not about to spill as easily, and yet…how much more valuable they are than spilled water - which is entirely recoverable and replaceable.
What if every driving class included a segment on “water driving” – giving would-be drivers the experience of what it takes to really drive carefully and to think about what each turn, each tap of the gas pedal, and each jerky brake can mean.