Do you test your brakes?

Robin Maiden — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:00:39 +0000

We just had a wintry mix of rain, sleet, and snow here in the south. Although I didn’t want to be on the roads, I had to drive to work. I caught myself testing the road conditions regularly – a habit learned from my father. On a straight section of road with a low risk of hitting anything or anyone, I would hit the brakes aggressively to see if I could slide the tires. If they slid, I knew I needed to drive carefully. If I didn’t slide, I knew conditions were better. Either way, I knew the conditions. I didn’t have to guess. I didn’t have to listen to the weather on the radio. I didn’t have to infer conditions from the temperature displayed on the car display. I knew I could stop safely, or if I needed to slow even more. I got the information I needed during low risk times, so I knew what I could expect at critical times.

The more I thought about it, I thought this is a real metaphor for life. You can live your life based on opinions and judgments of so called “experts.” Or, you can gain the knowledge through direct experience. In the low risk times, do you test the conditions to see if your judgment of the conditions is correct? Leave you life metaphors in the comments.

Robin's Roost » adverse conditions

Do you test your brakes?