Common belief has it that it’s never good to hold in pent-up feelings and that’s it’s best to let what is bugging you out to the rest of the world. For the past five years, this common sight on American roads drives me up the wall and I can’t keep it held down anymore. It may seem cold and harsh, but those tacky stick-on decals that people place on the back windows of their cars to memorise someone in their lives are totally distasteful and nauseating.
There’s been countless times that I’ve ridden in traffic behind one of those “Rest In Peace, 1968-1989″ stickers. We get it! I’m sorry that “Chewie” was blown away in the drive-by, but we get it! It’s happened to everybody. We’ve all lost people in our lives. I lost a good uncle to cancer 10 years ago, and later on my father, but I can still see out the back of my hatchback.
The best thing to do is to go home, light a few candles, and spread a few ashes into the sea. But I don’t want to start crying every time I get stuck in traffic because I have to think about the kid who kicked the bucket in the drive-by.
It’s okay to mourn, but there’s no reason to be doing it years later and bring the whole driving public with you.
This is only starting to occur on English roads and it tends to be people who are young and have ridden motorcycles based on the graphics beside their name and birth/death dates. I have no objection to it other than I feel as if I am somehow privy to something which probably shouldn’t be displayed outside those who knew and loved them.