Some Mad Laws Of The Road

            On Monday afternoon, November 11^th Mad and I met once again.  This time we decided to meet over lunch at Market Square.   The first thing that struck me when I saw him was that he was quite bundled up, despite it being a fair 62 degrees. Mad’s attire consisted of jeans, a beanie, a long sleeve t-shirt, and a jacket.   Naturally, due to his rather unusual outfit our conversation began with the weather.  He complained about how it gets so cold here in Texas.    Back in Saudi Arabia it was hot year round so prior to moving to the United States he had never lived in an area where temperatures drop below 65.  Now coming from LA myself, I may be seen as a wimp about the cold, but I am nowhere nearly as effected by it as Mad.    His face was priceless when I told him that Tuesday was forecasted to be about 25 degrees colder then it was that day – and it was also going to be windy and wet.  He said he was going to stay in his house the whole day and I just had to laugh.  To this he responded (with the shadow of a grin), “You think I am joking, but I am not!”

           

While I took in Mad’s attire, I noticed he had an ace wrap around his left shoulder.  Naturally, I inquired about it.  Mad had been in five serious car wrecks in his life.  Two were serious enough that he had to have surgery.  But all of them left their own unique lingering injuries, one of which was his shoulder that tended to ache whenever the temperature dropped.    All five of his accidents took place in Saudi Arabia.    Mad said that unlike here in the United States there are no rules of the road.    In his country you make your own rules, roads become optional, insurance is useless, horns are just a way of getting through crowds and car wrecks are things to be expected.  Ironically, despite this chaos, citizens are faced with driving exams that are a lot more difficult then they are here in the United States. 

This past summer, when Mad was looking to purchase a car, two things shocked him.  First, he was amazed by the price Americans were asking and willing to pay for cars, especially new ones.  Limited to a budget, Mad began looking at used cars, where he found another astonishing fact:  almost none of these previously owned cars had been in wrecks before!   Delighted, Mad finally settled on a “never crashed” 2003 Nissan.  In the course of his search he found it ironic that despite being in America, there were less American cars here then there seems to be in Saudi Arabia.  Apparently, American cars are very popular there.   In fact, American car companies have even more car models there then they do here. 

Long after having finished our meal and as Market Square began to become full with a noisy crowd, we finally decided to leave.  Not having any class at the time,  I decided to walk Mad to his car so he would not have to face the cold alone and also so we could have a few more minutes to talk.   On our way to the parking lot a question popped into his mind.  He asked me how was it that the government could take away people’s cars and houses.   I briefly explained to him how debt and loans work here in the United States.  To him it did not seem right or fair.   As we arrived at his 2003 “never crashed” Nissan, Mad exclaimed, “Things shouldn’t cost so much here” and to this I agree.