I write about my faith, my personal growth, and my roadgeekery hoping that my posts will resonate with you and that you will leave comments that share your experiences.
Last July I wrote a post called “What’s the use?” about enjoying what God has given us. I told the story of my first brand new car, a 1989 Chevy Beretta, and how my sweating over its care often made it hard for me to simply enjoy my car. Even though my Beretta lasted 150,000 miles, it fell apart, as old cars do. This post is far and away the most popular I’ve written. Check out this screen shot of this blog’s all-time top posts, as of this morning. “What’s the use?” attracts one out of every ten visits to my blog! The next most popular post gets about one fourth the traffic.
If you think that people are thirsty for a message of enjoying our gifts, you would be wrong. Check this screen shot of the all-time most popular search terms that brought people to my blog. Notice how often the word “beretta” appears. (I puzzle over the 14 people who found my blog while looking for dirt mounds.)
In reality, most people come to my site to see pictures of my car. It turns out there’s a whole Beretta subculture that loves this little coupe. Some of them soup them up, slather them in plastic body cladding, and race them. Others keep them original and drive them daily. They get together online to talk about it at places like berettastuff.com, berettaspeed.com, and beretta.net. Sometimes they drive their Berettas cross country to sit together among their cars and swap Beretta stories!
We’re not talking Mustang or GTO or Impala SS here. We’re talking the Beretta, a glorified grocery getter that was pretty tame even with its most powerful engine and stiffest suspension. But these people love this car. It probably helps that used Berettas can be had for less than $1,000. It doesn’t cost very much to join in the fun.
These people are doing the very thing I found elusive in “What’s the use?” – they’re enjoying their cars. More power to ’em.
