The Horn of Anger

Have you ever wondered what that horn is for, that sits in the middle of your car's steering wheel?

Sure, it may seem absurd to question the function of such a basic and obvious operation. But let me ask you the same question that led me to ask this introductory question...

When was the last time you used your horn? Huh!?

I bet you can't remember. But even if you can, I bet it wasn't to warn somebody of an impending accident he was about to cause. Like myself and the rest of us, you were probably angry at someone.

Ya see, I had noticed for many years that I never used my horn. The only rare occasion that I used it, I was simply expressing my annoyance at whoever cut me off. And so I got to thinking, is this really what the car manufacturers intended? Did they design this horn to help us audibly express our disgust with another driver? Yeah, I didn't think so either.

And yet that's what we all use it for! And that seems to be all we use it for. Ya see, I had fully understood its function, but what I was really trying to grasp was its purpose.

I'm sure by now, you know where I'm going with this: that the horn's true intended purpose was to be used as a warning for other drivers in potentially disastrous situations. But what was interesting for me in this is where this came alive to me.

Ya see, in being trained as a UPS driver, I discovered just how useful this neglected piece of simplistic ingenuity is. I can let people know that I'm there. For anybody parked along the road or about to pull out from a driveway, it is a wonderful warning for them.

I view the horn so differently now. I respect the horn. Now I use the horn - as intended, not as an extension of my temper.