Less Car, Less Hassle

I was recently flirting with the idea of looking for a new car, but decided against it. It is difficult to justify the expediture of so much money on an object that, on the mean streets of Miami, is inevitably going to get dinged and whose value will depreciate with varying rapidity.

All things being equal, I would prefer to live in a city in which one does not need to have a car. While nice for shopping or a weekend getaway, I hate driving and all of the hassles associated with having a car, from finding (and often paying) for parking, sharing the road with inattentive or simply bad drivers and the risk of sudden death via accident, not to mention the costs of gas, repairs and maintenance.

I am not an overly materialistic person and place little value in the idea of a car as an investment or as a reflection of one’s intrinsic worth. While that attitude is completely counter to the prevailing sentiment in this town (and, to a lesser extent, the country as a whole), my latent Midwest sensibilities cannot be convinced otherwise.