A Little MS with a Little MSW

I know traffic is a giant cluster many places around the globe, but Atlanta, Georgia has GOT to rank as one of the worst. Since moving to a different state last March, I have never driven through that city so much in my life. The first words that come to mind when I think of Atlanta are: traffic, crime, shopping, and Elton John.

The first three are kind of par for the course for a big city, Elton John not so much. I have no idea why it’s lodged in my brain that he owns a house in Buckhead. Buckhead is a really nice area; there is a restaurant there with amazing jalapeno cheese dip. Midtown is quite nice too. I was once there in the fall and the yellow leaves blanketing the mid-city parks were stunning.

As I was sitting in traffic last night, looking at the sea of cars around me, I began thinking of how the road changes us. It provides a more level playing field for us all to perform the same rote functions – stop, go, turn, park, yield, etc.. Now, I’m not saying we are all equally skilled at performing these functions, but the road holds space for us all, regardless of age, race or gender.

Roads can be therapeutic. The wide-open country variety that allows clarity to sweep through us like the wind through our hair. Even the stand-still Atlanta rush hour variety that allows angst to surface and deep-seated frustrations and aggressions to be purged. But let’s not go overboard – road RAGE is a DSM-5 moment, and there is a support group for that.