Cartalk

It is funny; one can call in with car questions; they’ve mastered the punch-line delivery and they know their stuff. On the rare occasion I remember to tune-in, I catch them on the radio, and I make up for my disloyal fandom by following them on Facebook.

 

Rumored to be the winner of NPR’s “Most Likely to be Canceled Show” for 25 years, straight, I’m talking about Cartalk - known as an interactive radio talk show where dynamic brother duo Tom and Ray Magliozzi - the voice and DNA of the show - discuss all that is vehicular and peculiar.

 

More recently I experienced my own version of car talk.

 

What do you get when one stages an event that sticks two introverts in a car, seatbelts them in (remember – click it, or ticket!) and sends them downtown?

 

Well; we encountered a few mechanical difficulties, that even extroverts would be inexperienced with; had some coughing that mimicked barking dogs; came to complete stops around cops; listened to some fist pumping music; outsmarted construction crews, but more importantly we had a breakthrough: We didn’t just small talk, “So how is work?” and we explored more than the weather and what we would be eating for supper.

 

We were introverts who spent a lot of time around people and on the ride to and fro we learned how important it is to surround one’s self with positive people. Because over and over I learn that sometimes my own company is like stale, moldy pizza. The all-American food gone bad; a total mood killer.

But, you know, these truths are always more enlightening when someone points it out while simultaneously a light bulb (or dashboard light) flashes above your head.

 

Ask anyone who has been anywhere. If they have lived a little, it doesn’t take long to learn a lot and this is something you learn fast: Whom you spend time with… You become.

  

Who are you hanging out with? Who have you made plans with this weekend? Tonight? Tomorrow? Heck, do you work commute with, work with or, even, with whom do you putt-putt golf? Because, that’s you*.

*Okay, by You, I mean me. I made plans tonight. I made plans this weekend. Heck, I have co-workers and a boss who give me questionable looks when I open my mouth and start pacing and practicing my lunges mid-day.

And this is not the “In-ten-years-version-you.” No. This is the live edition: unfiltered, streaming up-to-date you.

 

Now, what if those same people are asking those same questions? Are *you the type of person they want to hang around? Do they want to rub shoulders with you? Will that chip on your shoulders fall from yours to theirs?

 

Be a person worth becoming: Exercise kindness, sweetness, morality, ethics, courage, honesty, faithfulness, peacefulness and you will have many strengths. Give them your shoulders, lift them up you will create giants.