Here’s what I see on a morning walk:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Cars parked on the street bumper to bumper, with barely\u00a0an inch between them.\u00a0 Vehicles with their wheels up on the sidewalk where baby strollers and wheelchairs and assisted-walkers fear to roll.<\/p>\n
Vehicles clog\u00a0the small village where I live, parked along every winding lane, every mountain road, many of them parked askew so that this morning as I walk carefully among them,\u00a0a driver approaches,\u00a0weaving\u00a0through the space that’s left, becoming a\u00a0skilled participant in the getting-to-work marathon.\u00a0 As more walkers and runners and kids with backpacks \u00a0join in on their way to school, it becomes\u00a0a dodgem game.<\/p>\n
How did one small town get so full of shiny metal?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, here’s a cottage that’s been expanded with its garage “repurposed” and its driveway fenced off.\u00a0 Four vehicles park out front.\u00a0 Here’s\u00a0new construction – a giant house going up where a cottage once lived.\u00a0\u00a0It’s\u00a0being\u00a0built fence to fence with no yard, no garage and no driveway.\u00a0 More vehicles join the lineup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As I wander, I wonder something else.\u00a0\u00a0If this house is too big for the block, is it also\u00a0too big for the times?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I do remember\u00a0how it got like this.\u00a0 I participated.\u00a0 The thinking was, I’ve worked hard and my home (and\u00a0sometimes what I drive)\u00a0are part of my very identity.\u00a0 If I can pay for it, I’m entitled to\u00a0it.<\/p>\n
It’s going to take a whole lot of re-thinking to change that part of our\u00a0American dream.\u00a0 We’ll need to figure out a new personal\u00a0definition of success, ways\u00a0to find gratification in making better choices.\u00a0 And we’re just now beginning\u00a0to ask the tough questions:\u00a0\u00a0Is this home\/car necessary?\u00a0\u00a0Is it right for the preservation of the larger community?\u00a0<\/p>\n