Outside reading post #10

In John Hockenberry's Moving Violations, he is finally starting to realize that trying to fight against all the odds does not pay off in the end. Hockenberry spent all of his time since his accident not submitting to the limitations of his disability. In this section of the reading, he made an incredibly rash decision to buy a car that was not designed for paraplegics just for the sake of it. Afterwards, he reflects on his purchase, "I had just purchased not one, but two cars that, at the very least, were illegal for me to drive, assuming I could ever modify them enough to get either of them out of the driveway" (153). Perhaps Hockenberry saw it as his fight against his disability, but in my opinion, it was sheer selfishness. Because of his massive and foolish purchase, both he and his wife had to move to a lower rent apartment. (He bought the cars only by his wife's reluctant consent.) Also, though Hockenberry may have viewed it as a physical challenge, he was actually endangering people on the roads by driving illegally in a car not designed for people in his condition. I find it discouraging that Hockenberry would not take anyone else into account as he made these decisions. However, he has seen at least one example that has shown him that doesn't have to do outragious things like driving a car or going to a college that isnt' designed for paraplegics. Hockenberry is unable to play most songs on the piano because he cannot reach the pedals, so a music professor suggested that he try the harpischord, which does not require pedals. This would allow him to focus more on the music, rather use his inadequate pedal operator. He unenthusiastically agreed, feeling that he was being cowardly, but after trying it he commented, "It was a harpischord that suggested to me that there was a way through life without all the confrontations" (151). That is when Hockenberry first considers that it is not cowardly to avoid the routes he is physically incapable of taking and that his fights weren't worth the pain he was causing himself and others.