Car...

As I was driving to work this morning after dropping off my kids at daycare, I blasted my radio to an awesome Maroon 5 (sexy as always) tune and was jammin' out in my car...you know, shoulder shimmies, head bobbing, jumping and singing at the top of my lungs kind of jammin'.  After a couple minutes of pure music and beat bliss I realized that I am being stared at by a the person in the car next to me. I quickly reddened, abandoned my nightclub zone and became a serious professional driver that was ready to come to my professional job on this very professional morning. 

Why is it that the car...this object with see-through glass that gets me to and from work everyday becomes my private place of refuge? Its funny, but if I think about it, being in my car is very public, I am surrounded by people (also in their cars)...crowds of them, yet I feel that in my car I am surrounded by privacy. I feel that this is the place where I can say what I want, dance to what I want, flick off who I want (I don't do this often, but it happens :)). Yet, I would never behave the way I do in my car in and actual crowd, right? I would never do a jam session on a bus or metro, I would never yell out loud or flick off a random individual as they walk next to me on the street or even if they accidentally walk into me...we would politely apologize to one another and go on with our day. Sometimes I would love to break into song and dance as I listed to my iPod in the store, on the sidewalk, in the park...yet I don't.  I can just picture the looks.  I wonder, why is it that the car allows me to feel that I can just relax and be me?  Then the question is why is it that I hide being the true me in public? (hence the embarrassment at the red light). Then the bigger question is, why is it that the public looks strangely at expression and makes subdued behavior the norm?  Hmmm...just a thought.