Tap Tap

 Tap Tap

“Do you know why I pulled you over?”

“No.”

“Then maybe you didn’t see the flashing lights and the sign that says ‘Park Entrance Slow.””

“Look, I respect that you’re out here trying to protect the community from dangerous drivers. I myself, have no tolerance for reckless drivers who abuse the privilege of using these roads which we all have to share, and I think that’s something we can agree on.”

“That’s true. Not many young drivers like yourself acknowledge driving as the privilege that it is.”

“My problem is that last week while I was parked in the park parking lot, you rolled up next me and said I can’t be in the park because the park closes after dark.”

“That’s right. Those are the park rules.”

“So how come now, when it’s been dark for nearly three hours, you’re telling me that I can’t drive the normal speed. If you’re assuming that I’m endangering the people who are walking by the park, aren’t you also assuming that there is someone who is breaking the park rules? What makes that any less illegal than what I’m doing? Why should I be punished for inadvertently putting them into harm's way if they’re the ones who are breaking the law to begin with?”

“As far as the law is concerned, while you’re driving on New York State roads you have to follow New York State rules, which means decreasing your speed in marked zones to protect those in the park crossway. Furthermore, you were speeding irregardless of whether there were people in the park, and for that I am given the power to give you a ticket or a legitimate use of force to end this silly debate.”

“What’s silly is the fact that you can drive the normal speed limit by a school on a Sunday, but you can’t exceed the park speed limit when it’s 10:30 at night.”

“Why are you fighting me on this?”

“Don’t you see what’s at stake here? What if it’s a single mother who gets her license suspended because she was speeding through the park area after dark? She might have to quit her job because she’ll have no way of making it there without her car. And while she is looking for a new job or trying to find someone who can bring her to her existing job she isn’t making enough money to support her children?”

“To be honest that screams a logical fallacy, although I’m not sure of which one. And what makes you think that I’m not thinking about the public good? What if I’m just thinking about the jogger who was killed in a hit-and-run while she was running by the park early in the morning? We all have to use these roads, son.”

“That’s fair. I don’t want to be the kid who ran over his neighbor because he was driving too fast. I’ll stop speeding by the park at night.”

“And I don’t want to be the cop who gets a young kid in trouble with the law when he just needed a little reminder. Why don’t you go and drive home?”

“Ok. Thank you, officer.”

Blogger’s Notes

If you managed to read this whole unintelligible and fantastical script, and you thought that my late-night day dream was somehow creative, perhaps you should reconsider what well done, creative works actually look like. If you thought that this clearly last minute submission of a response which I had a whole week to craft was a pile of garbage, I can assure you that you have good taste. That being said I am willing to contend that this piece, in a awkward and unappealing manner, highlights important principles of debate such as mutual respect, determining what connects the community, fighting for the common good, questioning the underlying assumptions of claims and reasoning, and the individual’s right to willingly change their actions or beliefs in response to a convincing argument.