Honk Back: The Subtle Art of Returning a Honk
I honk back at everything. It doesn’t matter who the horn was for. It doesn’t matter if I can even see the car that produced it. If I’m behind the wheel and a horn goes off anywhere in the vicinity, I honk. Once, firmly, with purpose. Then I continue my drive like nothing happened. I’d been doing this for years before I ever thought to question it. Then one afternoon, somewhere in stop-and-go traffic with a horn going off three or four cars ahead — aimed at someone I couldn’t see, about something I’d never know — my hand went reflexively to the center of my steering wheel. Afterward I asked myself: why do I do that? Why am I joining an argument I was not invited to? ...