Automotive culture

Americans drive a lot.

Granted, if I were in a proper city - Philadelphia, New York, LA - there'd be fewer personal cars on the road. More cabs and buses.

But suburban New Jersey is downright absurd in how you need a car.

I live less than half a mile from the Cherry Hill Mall. To get there from my house, you walk down my driveway, go a few meters to the corner and turn left, walk to the next intersection, turn right, walk two blocks, cross a four-lane road, and you're in the mall parking lot.

There's no safe way for a pedestrian to get into the parking lot, though. Your best bet is to bear away from the mall's entrance, go down the grassy median between parking lot and road, and cut across the quarter-mile of parking lot.

There's a Target across the road from the mall. The best way to get there? Walk up to the mall, down the road (including a dash across the on/off ramps to a local highway), across the movie theater parking lot, cross the drainage ditch where there's no fence, and come around from the back. A sidewalk? No, why would there be one of those?

In the past I grumbled about it, especially in the days before I got a license, but hey, it's convenient, right? Target's nice, because you can get pretty much whatever you may need in one shop. Ditto for the big enclosed malls.

But I think I've come to realize that there was a flaw in my thinking, and that is: You don't need that stuff. I lived for nearly a year quite happily with as much clothing as would fit in my backpack: a few pairs of jeans and black slacks, a couple button-down shirts, some t-shirts. Big flashy wardrobe? Not at all. Sufficient, and perhaps even easier? Absolutely. We're smothered with choice here, and it's...depressing.