Sometimes It Pays To Take The New Route

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Finally today, I'm thinking about my new favorite thing. It's an app that my cousin told me about a few years ago that helps you bypass all the obstructions that might get in your way as you try to get somewhere - potholes, stalled cars, heavy traffic - dare I say it, speed cameras? To be honest, when my cousin first told me about it, I didn't pay much attention. I wasn't driving that much or we were only going to places I already knew how to go. Plus, to be fair, I learned how to drive from my father who never, as far as I can remember, ever consulted a map. I think I mistakenly absorbed the message that real drivers didn't need a map. You just somehow magically knew where to go. It was only later that I realized that just getting a driver's license didn't mean you knew how to get places. That was lesson one. Lesson two came when my kids started playing on two different travel teams, and the drivers in our household suddenly had the need to head in different directions, sometimes different states on the same day. Suddenly, my app became very meaningful to me. How did I ever manage to get to the most obscure playing fields tucked in the back corner of a remote subdivision without it? But Can I Just Tell You? The crazy thing I've also noticed is how often I just don't listen to it. Why might that be? Why might I ignore something I previously trusted or at least consulted to tell me about deep potholes that are almost certainly ahead? Do I think I just know better or that the people that are reporting problems are somehow up to mischief, reporting phantom breakdowns that don't really exist just for the fun of it? Or do I just prefer the old routes, even if they're actually worse? You think it's because I still buy into that message I inadvertently picked up from my dad, which is that somehow we automatically know the right way to go, even when all the evidence in front of us tells us there's trouble ahead, that we're heading into heavy traffic and there literally is a better way, even if it's unfamiliar? Yes, I see an analogy to the present moment. There is ample evidence every day that some ideas - some old ideas, some unfamiliar ideas will send us into a deep teeth-chattering rut. But for some reason, we like those old ideas better. We prefer the old routes even as we may acknowledge that we are also traveling to places our parents never dreamed of, let alone visited. Changing old habits also requires that we acknowledge that feelings and facts are not the same thing. One of the more disturbing aspects of the current political climate to those of us who believe that there are such things as facts is the resolute unwillingness of some to accept that premise. Perhaps that is the ultimate failure of our existing institutions - that they - we - haven't figured out a shared vision of reality. People are legitimately angry about a lot of things - about work hard at jobs that don't pay enough to get ahead, about jobs that are disappearing or never existed where they live, about leaders who don't seem to do anything to bring about change. Clearly, too many people feel they are invisible. But clearly, we cannot seem to agree on how this happened, whose fault this is and the way out. It can be hard to admit we don't know everything, hard to admit we don't even know where we're going, hard to realize we might not like what we find when we get there. As a person who still drives an 8-year-old stick-shift and who's never stood in line for anything new, I certainly understand that. But I also try to remember the times I let go of my ego or my fear and learn that life could be better - not perfect but better. I'm glad I finally listened to my cousin about that app. He was right.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.