On Not Being Behind the Wheel

I was on a train ride going home the other day when something that I haven't thought of for some time suddenly flashed in front of my mind – I don't know how to drive a car.

A feeling of embarrassment slowly bubbled up inside of me as I think about this incompetence.

How did I spent the past ten years learning how to effectively tell a computer how to do things but not how to drive a car?

How did I get this far in life without being able to perform such basic life skill?

What kind of a man did I turn out to be?

All I know is that my fourteen year old self would be ashamed of me. Especially after the thousand of hours I spent playing Need for Speed. And for the multiple times I've rewatched the first two Fast and the Furious movies. Add the fact that all I talk about with my friends back then was how cool would it be when we get our own cars. That was the ultimate dream. So believe me, it's not because of the lack of interest.

As I entered my early twenties, not knowing how to drive proved to be more of a personal preference. The traffic in Manila is so bad that to me the headache of driving a car in one of the worst cities to drive in the world didn't justify the freedom it brings. It tempered the alure of having a car for me. Instead, I became adept in navigating the city through its array of transportation options – jeepneys, trains, and busses. I learned my way around the messy and noisy yet vibrant system that is Metro Manila's public transportation. It taught me the value of self-reliance and the importance of patience – because trust me, I needed a lot of it.

Of course, there are still moments of insecurity. Especially when owning and driving a car is believed to be a necessity and a badge of success and independence. But as the years go by, I learned how to embrace my own journey and not to be pressured to do something just because everyone's doing it.

I still do want to learn how to drive. I just hope that it happens sooner than later – before self-driving cars take over and it's not even an option anymore.