Our most popular entry ever on Why Boys Don't Want to Drive is still getting comments years later. Here's one from this week:
"My boyfriend is 24 years old and he STILL doesn't have a license. I am 20 years old and working on mine and I am very motivated...but he isn't. And it's not until recently I didn't want to be the only one driving us around. He is really unmotivated and I don't get why because when he was 17 his parents bought him a car that's just sitting in his drive way...and now his older brother is going to use it! I think the best was whenn we all had to go to a party and his younger brother was driving US there! I think it's really embarassing. I am saving up for a car and working my ass off, while he's procrastinating in La-La land about getting his license. It's really annoying because we live in the suburbs, so we need a car to see eachother. (Though we both live by the trainstation). It's just a pain in the ass because I feel he is at the point of his life (almost 25) where he should be working his ass off for the future. I am, why can't he? He's not a total loser, he is a college grad and he has a very good job he just is lazy about this. And i don't get it!" AC
Dear AC,
1.Read John Dos Passos' "The 42nd Parallel," one of the top 100 novels of the last century. It describes how young men, creating the new economy and century, have to 'wander' both geographically and mentally figuring out the new economy.
2.Your boyfriend 'get's it' with regard to the new century. He understands a) you cannot work and drive; b) cars are destroying the environment; and c) cars kill way too many people (it is the leading cause of death for people your age).
Take the train, enjoy your boyfriend, and support his quest for meaning and vocation in the Internet Age. In just 10 years young men like him will be the most valued workers in society. Sincerely, Dan Landers