The stick shift or manual car is rapidly progressing to become a rarity in America. Statistics on knowledgeable drivers to this now outdated concept are around 18 percent of the driving population. How could this once mandatory concept fade into an atypical concept? This is what most people ponder over when they hear this, until they actually try to drive darn contraption… My parents’ have had a pressing belief that everyone should be cognizant of how to drive a stick shift car. I was even fortunate enough to get a car when I got my license. Naturally, it was a manual car. My parents and I decide to take it out for a spin. After just ten minutes of what seemed as though an endless amounts of stalling out and road rage driven beeps directed
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This time I was here for a new type of lesson. He opened the car door without a word, signaling me to switch seats. The final bang of ear old grey door seemed like the starting gun. Dominick blurted out before I foolishly hit the gas that “stop to start is the hardest part of this process. You have to fluently release the clutch as you press the gas. You ready?” My head falsely wavered up and down. I slowly released the clutch and hit the gas. The car lurched forward, and then backward repeatedly mixing all of its contents like names in a raffle jar. “You didn’t press the gas enough,” Dominick informed me. With a full heart of hope, I kept trying. Finally, Dominick stopped me and said, “Here is a trick I used when I was trying to learn, rev the gas to about 2,000 RPMs before releasing the clutch.” I slowly took my foot and revved the engine too high, sounding what I can only imagine as a child playing as he spit from producing the vroom noise covers his toy cars. I persistently ventured and failed six more times. On the seventh try the car hesitantly dragged …show more content…
Dom remained mute warranting me to learn. I went from neutral to first as many times as I could, lost in the learning process. I could not help but compare the crunch of gears and reek of the burning of the clutch when I drove to Dom’s automatic capability earlier. It was resonate in me forever what Dom had said earlier as I question what I thought to be such an archaic and unnecessary concept: “when learning, there is no such thing as bad days or lessons, just bad moments.” This humid summer night taught me that life is a series of interruptions and challenges, just like my overused hatchback is a series of gear after gear. As I figured out how to operate the higher gears, I was able to progress faster and faster. Although, the hardest part of this physically short journey was always stop to start. I found that starting something is always the most laborious, yet education and a thoughtful teacher can get you in the fast
This time I was here for a new type of lesson. He opened the car door without a word, signaling me to switch seats. The final bang of ear old grey door seemed like the starting gun. Dominick blurted out before I foolishly hit the gas that “stop to start is the hardest part of this process. You have to fluently release the clutch as you press the gas. You ready?” My head falsely wavered up and down. I slowly released the clutch and hit the gas. The car lurched forward, and then backward repeatedly mixing all of its contents like names in a raffle jar. “You didn’t press the gas enough,” Dominick informed me. With a full heart of hope, I kept trying. Finally, Dominick stopped me and said, “Here is a trick I used when I was trying to learn, rev the gas to about 2,000 RPMs before releasing the clutch.” I slowly took my foot and revved the engine too high, sounding what I can only imagine as a child playing as he spit from producing the vroom noise covers his toy cars. I persistently ventured and failed six more times. On the seventh try the car hesitantly dragged …show more content…
Dom remained mute warranting me to learn. I went from neutral to first as many times as I could, lost in the learning process. I could not help but compare the crunch of gears and reek of the burning of the clutch when I drove to Dom’s automatic capability earlier. It was resonate in me forever what Dom had said earlier as I question what I thought to be such an archaic and unnecessary concept: “when learning, there is no such thing as bad days or lessons, just bad moments.” This humid summer night taught me that life is a series of interruptions and challenges, just like my overused hatchback is a series of gear after gear. As I figured out how to operate the higher gears, I was able to progress faster and faster. Although, the hardest part of this physically short journey was always stop to start. I found that starting something is always the most laborious, yet education and a thoughtful teacher can get you in the fast