We aren’t the majority. We don’t have teeming throngs fillings squares and city centres. We don’t have placards and signs and hashtags devoted to our cause. Our ideals haven’t spread through the public’s conscious like a virulent pathogen. Anderson Cooper isn’t reporting live from the Category 5 Hurricane that’s ravaging our cause.
Our cause doesn’t even have a name. We just have a belief. That’s it.
We believe in cars.
We believe that cars offer us what nothing else can: Emancipation From Fixed Location.
Think about that for a moment. Our ancestors were stuck in the mud where they were born. Their ability to travel was limited by the distance their legs could take them in a day. Buses, trains, horses, bicycles and bipedal motion could only get them so far. But what if they wanted to go beyond that, to explore, to travel, to enrich their lives? They could read books and not a whole lot more.
But we have a gift that our ancestors did not. We have cars.
Cars uniquely offer us the ability to get in and go. And to keep going as long as we dare. This is the definition of personal independence. Cars are nothing less than our freedom.
That’s why we made CarEnvy.ca. It’s our pledge of solidarity to our brothers. We might not always be on these pages, but we’re always on Facebook and (especially) Twitter and even right in front of you, talking to you face-to-face. We’re here because we must. There is no other way.
We believe in cars. So do you. That’s why we’re here. That’s what unites us. That’s what brings us together and makes us strong. That’s what gives us such a strong voice. We’re not quiet. We won’t stop.
We believe in cars.
What does it mean to believe? It means to learn. Believing in cars means that you want to learn everything there is to know about them. You learn by reading, you learn by writing, you learn by wrenching, and you learn by driving. Believing isn’t just something you do. It’s something you feel.
Believing in cars has never been more challenging. There are fewer places to drive, more cars on the road, more restrictive speed limits, and greater traffic enforcement. Yet cars have never been more capable. Or more reliable. Or safer. Or more fuel efficient. Cars have quite simply never been better. In fact, there’s never been a better time to believe.
But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do so.
As demonstrated by this fairly touching advert, Jeremy Clarkson, a man who believes in cars as passionately as anyone, has lost hope. Why? Maybe because Britain isn’t as lucky as Canada. They have more cars and less space to enjoy them than we do. If you’ve also lost hope, now is a great time to pick up your X-Box controller. But if you haven’t, if you’re as lucky and as hopeful as we are, then grab your car keys instead. Go for a drive. Just go. Don’t stop to worry about where you’re going, you’ll find out when you get there.
Our cause, our belief in cars, is constantly struggling with politics, the environment, and increasingly dense cities. These things won’t kill our cause, they can’t, but they will change it. We need to be ready for change but we also need to enjoy today. We only get this day once. Just once. That’s it. When you’re 80, how will you remember this day? Unless you give yourself a reason to right now, you probably won’t.
So go. Make memories. And keep believing in cars. We’ll be there with you the whole way.