Your Range Rover Doesn't Impress Me

It's a known fact that people use their automobiles as status symbols. The more expensive the ride, the more importance granted to the person in the driver's seat. A man riding in Mercedes S-Class' are more likely to get that hot young blond's attention than the guy in the Kia Spectra hatchback. Many people would rather buy a BMW 760 than a house. That's just the way the world works, it seems.

I was pumping gas into the adorable little Ford Fusion I was driving and making faces at my 18 month old in the backseat a few weeks ago when a chardonnay hued '07 Escalade pulled up on the opposite side of the pump. Yes, it was a nice truck. But I just rolled my eyes. A very attractive guy got out and began selecting his options. He noticed me and we made eye contact for a moment before I turned away, lest he get the wrong impression. It was too late. He attempted to start a conversation and I answered his questions with one-word answers. I informed him I was married and he smirked. "If you were mine, I'd have you driving your own Escalade; we'd match." He said while rolling his eyes at the Fusion.

I said "No, that's okay: I don't feel the need or desire to destroy anything for the sake of self gratification." He gave me a puzzled look and I elucidated as I topped off the tank, "I don't want to pollute the environment anymore than necessary, and I don't see why I need to kill a cow to line my vehicle's interior." He didn't say anything else to me as I clicked the fuel nozzle back into it's place on the pump, screwed my cap on and got into the car.

While I'm sure my statements to him made absolutely not one bit of difference, I felt as if I had to say them. They were the truth. While I have materialistic tendencies like every other red-blooded person on the planet, I recognize my own selfish desires for what they are and resist temptation. I would love more than anything to have a BMW M5 Sedan. But not only can I not afford one, but I realize that I have no need for one and that I would only be putting more pressure on this fragile and unstable world we're living in (Don't quote me on that if I hit the lottery and am suddenly able to purchase one because I just might). I hate that luxury car makers eliminate the option of a cloth interior in most of their vehicles. Not all of us feel the need to murder something and sit on it/in it/with it.

Maybe I'm just a liberal hippie, gullibly believing in the big hoax of global warming. But I'm not so idiotic that I would believe that all of the awful things we are releasing into the atmosphere: all of the nonrenewable resources we are consuming at record speeds: all of the persons that we are producing and trees we are destroying are having no impact on the world around us.

It's almost certain that I'm in a minority of consumers that would enjoy more animal cruelty and slaughter free products out there. Yes, I'm just a tree-hugger and frog kisser. I get my pride and sense of self and desire for recognition satiated more by purchasing a Civic Hybrid and by being vegetarian. I don't think there's a better way to get all of that. I wish more people could relate.