Toll Roads

Toll Roads
Have I told you yet, my feelings on toll roads…

When I first got to Florida I was very conscious to avoid toll roads.

a. They cost money (at another time we can get into the cost of roads through taxes - I do realize roads cost money, just play along as you continue)
b. Sometimes you need to have exact change (toll roads without toll workers are the particular toll roads the frustrate me)
c. I wanted to actually see the community
d. I think it’s a way people are separated by class and communities next door to each other can avoid each other
e. They were even farther steps away from public transit

I really think toll roads have very little to do with social justice. I think it was even more intense for me due to the large amount of tourists who never see anything but the dreams of a cute mouse and fairy dust in Orlando. You can largely avoid seeing your neighbor in most places, but for some reason it became even more clear here.

The things you don’t have to see…

(I do understand some people that deal with some many struggles in the daily life may want a vacation where they can just let go and look for some artificial magic. And I am not trying to judge individual people in this. It is more the overall sentiment of how much stays hidden on a larger scale.)

And so I took out all these feelings on the toll roads.

Toll roads became of focus for my feelings on injustice. Which may sounds strange, but is definitely healthier than other places I could have placed my emotions.

The only main downside was the amount of time used. Also I don’t think I belong just driving through people’s communities without being invited in. But I think main roads through communities helps you understand. (I am still planning to do my photo essay on Division Street through Orlando, a true divide that often seems is not crossed)

Eventually by last fall I gave in and got a sunpass. This helps with a. and b. and google directions that always try to take me on toll roads. I gave in due to needing to drive far distances and very complicated you can’t get there from here without toll roads. But in a state connected by toll roads and not accessible transit for all, I know the privilege I have with that little sticker. I know in a car I can’t really see the people around me (one of the reasons I love public transportation so much, but that is also generally divided in some way. Growing up in DC the people who rode the bus were often from very different places than the people who only rode the metro.)

The truth is I have a toll road three blocks from where I live, but if you road on it you would never be able to see me. You’d go right over my neighborhood.

I took my frustration out on the toll road, so I would remember to really see the whole community I was working in. In working with the community you need to map what the community really looks like. As a Mission Intern it is easy to do this, but closer to home sometimes it is harder to remember. Sometimes it’s harder to look and open your eyes in the areas that are closest to you.

So what are our toll roads? When do we need to use them and when do we actively need to find another path?

** I have written this blog some many different times in my head while driving in the last year, that I am afraid this does not to justice to all that.

*my feeling on a car has changed some, as I have learned to respect it as a tool to get to where important gatherings and discussions have to happen to create change in people’s hearts and communities. Now we just need bus routes to those places.