My greatest challenge will be confronting a world where human life no longer seems to hold the value it once did.

Every day on the road, I see driving habits that seem shocking compared to what we used to expect. Over the last couple of summers, I’ve noticed how these behaviors have become more common. What once was astonishing now feels like just another part of everyday life. Speeding, weaving through traffic, tailgating, running red lights — it all seems so routine now. Law enforcement rarely steps in unless there’s already been a crash. It’s as if motorists have silently accepted reckless driving as just the way things are.

This morning, I watched an MTA bus nearly overturn while trying to beat a red light, barreling through oncoming traffic. It was a moment that froze my breath. An MTA bus — really? With all those passengers? That was a first. And yet, it was just another entry in a long list of near-tragedies I’ve witnessed.

Driving today feels like stepping into the wild west. Even a simple trip to the store requires strategy, vigilance, and prayer. I take backroads to avoid the chaos. And still, if you dare to obey the speed limit, someone will ride your bumper as if your commitment to safety is a personal offense.

What troubles me most is not just the reckless driving but the lack of conscious awareness behind it. Every person on the road belongs to someone. Every driver has a family, a home, a life they hope to return to. Yet the way motorists drive suggests they’ve forgotten that. Behaving as if urgency is more important than someone else’s existence.

The real crisis is not traffic. It is the erosion of reverence for human life.

If we truly valued one another, our roads would reflect it. Our choices would reflect it. Our pace would reflect it.

I am not a perfect motorist, but I carry one intention every time I get behind the wheel: I want everyone around me to make it home safely. That mindset alone could change everything if we all embraced it.

I hope this message becomes a spark—a small awakening that grows into a collective shift. Because the greatest challenge ahead is not surviving the roads, it is restoring the consciousness that every life around us is sacred.