“I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

–Sally, from the movie Cars

There once was an American citizen who owned a very ordinary and predictable automobile. It got him (or her, if you’d rather) where he needed to go–at least most of the time–but had none of the extras that would get the owner excited about the ride. He decided it was time for a change, so he sent his buyer’s agent shopping for something different.

After a search that seemed to last forever, he finally decided on a new model–a sleek, loud, muscle car. The seller touted all of its extras and proudly boasted of its yellow-orange color. “Here on the lot, we’ve named it the “yellow swoosh” because of its color and energy level.

The car delivered on its promises. It was fast, and it always took the owner where he wanted to go. But it was loud and boisterous–the noisiest vehicle on the road. It drew a lot of attention to itself.

The owner became aware of his neighbors’ intense dislike of his car. “But it’s sleek, strong, and dependable. You may tire of the noise it makes, but it checks almost all the boxes of what a car should do.”

He got pushback. Soon, neighbors began to confront him about the car. “Too noisy,” “too dominating,” and “too obnoxious” were just a few of the accusations.

Finally, he had to agree, so he decided to get rid of the car and try a different model. The last he heard, the “yellow swoosh” was somewhere in Florida.

After another long search, his buyer showed him a car that was parked in a garage. “It looks familiar,” the man said.

“Yeah, this model’s been around a long time, but it’s been dormant for a while. In fact, it hasn’t even left the garage. Almost like it’s content to just stay in there.”

After being assured this older vehicle would be a reliable option, the man agreed to cast his lot with it. Once the car was jump-started and brought out of the garage, he was impressed by its slicked back, silver appearance. “Well, it sure looks good,” he thought.

Soon, he discovered it wasn’t as reliable as he thought it would be, so he took it back to his buyer. “But, you’ve only had it for four months. Why give up on it so soon?”

“It looks fast, but it just putters along and–this sounds weird, I know–when I’m driving the car, it doesn’t seem to go where I want it to go. It’s almost like some external force is pushing it in another direction. Even when I’m going down a straightaway, it wants to turn left–and I mean a hard left. I just don’t feel safe with this ride.”

“Alright,” the buyer said, “I’ll start looking for another option. Tell me what you’d really love in a car.”

“I want something that’s dependable and, of course, it must be American made. Something that performs as advertised. It doesn’t have to have a lot of bells and whistles; I just want something I can count on to get me where I really want to go. Is that too much to ask?”

“No,” the buyer answered. “Let’s start looking. That model must be out there somewhere.”