Wow. That was pretty much amazing. I love the reference to driving a manual transmission. You're absolutely right about people just floating through life on autopilot. It's really a shame. Here's a quote from another SRP user that I found a while back that has stuck with me:

"There is something intrinsically rewarding about developing and then exercising a skill, it doesn't matter what it is. This is a growing casualty of our modern world, where one can almost muddle through without *any* particular skill... what will become of us then?"
-BHChieftain