The Standard Force

We finally got a new car.  Well, not a new new car, but we did sell the old broken one and picked up a less old, less broken one.  The new car is a little different from the ex-vehicle.  For one thing it has all of its mirrors intact.  Also, the seat belts work and it is not missing all of its hubcaps.  But the biggest difference is probably the standard transmission.

The first car I ever had was a standard and I do know how to drive one, but on the other hand I’ve been driving an automatic for the last ten years.  I’m a little rusty.  I have only stalled out in traffic once this week, with a long line of cars behind me, but the ride is not as smooth as it could be.  I’m getting there.  I just need to get my groove back.

Now, I am a rule follower.  Yes, I am also a rule-bender, semantics aficionado, and fast-talking son of a gun, but in general I like to have a hard set of rules or instructions to follow.  What this means is that I spent the first couple of drives trying to figure out the exact proper speeds at which to change gears.  Where was that magic spot where third gear wanted to jump in?  20?  25?  23?  At exactly what point of clutch deployment should I start to hit the gas?  What were the rules of this car?

This worked out okay, but of course all of these variables are dependent on large numbers of other variables.  What is the angle of incline of the road I am driving on?  What is the weather like?  How many people are in the car?  Why was the sad cebu sad?  You get the idea.

What I discovered is that the best way to ensure a smooth ride in the car is to use the force.  I’m not talking about the stupid midichlorians force.  I’m talking about the real force that Obi-Wan talks about.  He says “The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together…. A Jedi can feel the force flowing through him.”  That’s the kind of force I’m talking about.  The feeling kind.

Do you remember when Luke was trying to fight that little floating Bakugan with his lightsaber?  It kept zapping him, but when he put the blindfold on he was able to use the Force to deflect the little guy.  This would later serve him well when he decided to fire blindly on the death star using nothing more than feelings.  Well, feelings and a proton torpedo.

Driving a standard is very similar.  After all of the calculating and observing, I finally found that the best way to drive was not to keep an eye on the tachometer or the speedometer, but rather to just feel the car.  Just by listening and feeling and using the force, I could easily tell when the right moment to shift was, and the ride became lot smoother.  I was in the zone.  I could drive this car, no problem!

And then I would get snapped out of it by a screaming child, or something on the radio, or some jerk cutting me off.  But once you do it enough times, it’s easy to get back to that place.  This is the story of how I learned to stop worrying and just use the Force.  But I do keep my eyes open, just in case.