I felt my stomach drop before my mind had even consciously registered the sound: Sirens. On my way to work this morning, the car I was in had to pull over to let the Presidential motorcade pass. As we waited, we watched the outriders bully cars into various positions. I felt angry with the power they were exerting; and helpless in the face of my own fear: Don’t let them come here.

The motorcade whizzed past, the police drove their motorcycles drove off, and I finally exhaled.

Overall, it was less than five minutes – but it cast a shadow over my whole morning.

If I were president, I’d want my five minute morning encounters with motorists and pedestrians to make the hundreds of people I pass each day feel better -  not worse. Okay, so maybe I wouldn’t dish out candy and flowers every day. But surely the daily show of force and aggression does more harm than good?

This entry was posted on May 7th, 2013 at 11:03 am by Amanda Atwood and is filed under Governance, Reflections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.