Expressway: We are survivors of everyday reality

Once while sitting in my parked car in the Roosevelt Field mall's north lot, beside the busy intersection leading to Old Country Road and beyond, it occurred to me that every passing automobile was a survivor of thousands of split-second decisions of its driver over the course of its operating life.

I could see this as cars approached, stopped, waited (some drivers confident, some seemingly sheepish, some horn-blowing impatient), and finally darted into the fray of streaming vehicles to get to their destinations.

Most of the newer autos were still free of the cosmetic consequences of careless or absent-minded human decisions, still resplendent with shiny and dent-free flanks and bumpers. Older models reflected their years of life with amazing precision -- analogous to the wrinkled skin of an elderly human. Hard lives of stop and go, left and right, high and low, in and out, and forward and reverse were manifested with dents, chips, dings, touch-ups and weathered paint.

Transfixed by all this activity, I wondered about the many older cars passing by. Was it dumb luck or the good judgment of their drivers that they were still on the road even after a decade or two? (Probably both.)

For a select few, it appeared to be that combination of luck and judgment, plus the application of old-fashioned elbow grease. Fortunate to be the object of a car nut's desire, each of these pristine, eat-off-the-paint beauties paraded proudly through the traffic queue -- recipients of lovingly applied plastic surgery and makeup, turning heads all the way in its battle against entropy.

And to think, all of this orderly chaos is the result of minuscule electrochemical signals traveling within our brains -- that amazing pink, convoluted organ sans any visible moving parts.

But then, looking around at the mall itself -- the big-box stores, gaudy signage, sculptured pavilion artwork -- I realized that all of it was designed, constructed and maintained as a result of countless neurochemical interactions. It is truly incredible when you take time to ponder it.

Miraculous, too, is to be able to wonder where these almost infinite brain processes will take us next. With the many problems and issues facing us -- worldwide trends pointing in directions both good and ominous -- it's really up to all of us to focus and channel our thoughts and energies responsibly, so, like the cars on the road, we, too, can be the survivors of everyday reality.

Reader John Herman, formerly of Babylon, moved to South Carolina this year.