A gentle reminder

Over the last couple of years, there's been a lot written about FILMS MADE IN NEW MEXICO OH MY GOD RON HOWARD WILL SAVE US OH I HOPE I GET TO MEET BRAD PITT OH MY GOD I THINK I SAW THAT GUY YOU KNOW THAT GUY ON THAT SHOW OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD.

I am dubious that the latest incarnation of the just-don't-get-it-in-my-eye relationship between Hollywood and New Mexico will amount to what people would like it to, but you never know. It might. I've been wrong before. Hollywood might really, really love us, never mind what our friends say.

So, for the sake of argument, let's say that things work out and Albuquerque fulfills its destiny as the moviemaking hub of the Middle Rio Grande Valley. That will mean a lot more people moving here from other places. And many of those places will be places where it is considered acceptable to lay on your car horn if the person in front of you at a green light should hesitate for five seconds to long.

I am not originally from such a place. Where I grew up, car horns were generally limited to "emergency use," such as when you were about to run over a dog or when you saw someone you knew standing in their yard. Blasting your horn at someone because they were old or distracted by a flying saucer was considered to be a mark of an inferior intellect and poor upbringing. When the person at the light in front of you hesitated for too long, you waited. Then, weather permitting, you waved your hand out the window. Then, as a last resort, you gave your steering column a gentle rap, which produced a polite little beep. Which would cause the person in front of you to look up, mouth the words "Oh shoot!" and drive away.

Isn't that sweet? It's all true, too. That's how things were done where I grew up. Of course, they don't do it that way anymore. The little country roads of my youth are packed with Angry People From Places Where Honking Is OK. It's sad.

So I'd like to take this opportunity to remind the people who move here from places where emitting violent bursts of honking is acceptable that it is not acceptable here.

Especially in front of my house.