I wonder why some people feel the need to be a .........

  pace car driving down the road. It makes perfect sense why a Nascar race would have one to ensure a fair start for everyone. For that matter I don't even have a problem with parades using a car or the dude with the furry shaped cone on his head carrying a baton to keep everyone in line. Although the thought of a rampant woodwind section of a marching band running unchecked down main street isn't really that frightening I get the premise. But why do some people take the role of pace car on a two lane road, driving 10 miles below the speed limit? I can just imagine the conversation when Pa Featherfoot arrives home and his wife asks how traffic was. "Great. I didn't see a car in front of me all day." That's because we were all stuck behind your rickshaw paced ass cursing with words usually reserved for a stubbed toe, missed extra point or a spilled beer. Despite my frustration with the habitually slow driver there is a worse pace car offender and everyone has dealt with him or her.
   You're cruising along at a nice rate of speed and all of sudden a car swerves from the right lane into the left lane at exactly the speed limit. He has no intention of going any faster than he currently is, his main objective is to make sure you don't either. The self-appointed pace car of consciousness. If he isn't willing to push the boundaries than no one else around him will either. Never mind the fact that you are just doing what you want to, in his mind it isn't fair or right that you would be so brazen to pass him by. Even though you've never met Mr. Sanctimonious personally he knows your type all too well. Oh yes, he has slowed down plenty of people who don't do what they're supposed to, who don't fall inline and act like the rest of us. The big problem is there are pace cars everywhere in life.
   More often than not the pace cars in your life are actually people who care about you. With the best of intentions your parents will tell you to "have a back up plan" in case your dreams don't work out. (I've said that to my kids and it was stupid) Parents always have the best interest of their children at heart they just don't realize how deeply their words can wound the very people they are trying to protect. I know some will say that's just guiding the kids but is it really? It sends the unspoken message that I don't really think you can succeed so be careful. And it's not just kids who have to try and get around the pace cars of life. There are plenty of them when you become an adult too.
   Have you ever had a co-worker or boss tell you to slow down? I have on more than one occasion. "You shouldn't be helping them so much because they will get the wrong impression" or "It makes us look bad when you work that hard" are two of the more egregious examples I can cite off the top of my head. You see, the pace cars have to keep everyone at the same speed or there will be judgements made. Just stay in your lane and we'll all get there at the same time is their way of thinking. Well that strikes me as a steaming pile of cow dung. If you want to work harder, show up earlier and stay later to advance than go ahead and do it. After all it's your race to run as much as anybody else's. If you want to continue learning and expand the knowledge in your field don't let anyone stop you. The reason pace cars go slower is because they, for whatever reason, have determined that going any faster or further is either dangerous or just not worth the effort. They have every right to decide that but the old adage of lead, follow or get the hell out of the way still applies.
   I have saved the most difficult pace cars for last. Because kids have a built in need to ignore parental advice and a lot of people have a healthy skepticism of authority anyway those pace cars can be easily navigated around compared to the last group. What do you do if the people telling you to slow down are your dear friends, spouse or siblings? Surely they wouldn't try and slow you down. Sadly the answer is yes they will. I'm not saying it's malicious in intent, in fact it's usually the opposite. With the best of reasons they might warn you about trying a new career or business, all the risks involved and the potential downfalls. They mean well but it could be because they are to scared to try something different. Or they are worried that you don't have what it takes to succeed but care for you too much to come out and say it. It might even be that subconsciously they wish they could do it but know they won't. People much smarter than me have spent years trying to figure out why people feel the need to hold someone back that they care about. I don't know the answer nor do I care.
   One thing I am quite certain of is that there are way more pace cars out there than we need. So if you come up on a pace car in life try and quickly flash your high beams and hope they let you by. If that doesn't work tailgate them so close they can't see the hood of your car and honk your horn. If all else fails pull off the road and take a different route because you are the only one driving your life.
   And if you happen to be a pace car, especially the one that swerves into the left lane for no reason, please run for Congress. At least you'll spend less time on the road screwing things up for the rest of us and you will be surrounded by other people who are content going slow and doing little.

Till next.......