我的第三次、也是最后一次的路考 

By Kevin Chen

My Third and Final Driving Test

There are several initiations a teenager must conquer to progress to adulthood. Being able to vote, going off to college, living without parents, and getting a job are just a few instances in a person’s life when they know that they are changing from being regarded as a “child” to being respected as an adult. For me, the obstacle standing before me and one more step towards adulthood was the driving examination. 

Now this test should have been relatively simple; I was so ready to pass this test and be one step closer to ultimate respect and freedom, but long story short, I failed the test. Not once, but twice. This third test was my final chance towards that freedom and respect.

This third and final time that I could take my driving test was no doubt the most nerve-wracking examination I have ever experienced. Before I even took my first test, my friends have told me that it was really simple, and many of them said they passed the first time. So when I entered the DMV, I was ready to pass. Unfortunately, the results didn’t come back the way I had wanted them. The second time around, I was a little more nervous, because the possibility of failing and the last experience were still fresh in my mind. It also didn’t help that if I failed again, the third time would be my final opportunity. It was no surprise that I failed a second time. 

Now by the third try, I was so scared to enter that dreaded DMV once more. I was even afraid to make my appointment online! I can remember the nights, where I was haunted by my imagination; it would devise clips in my mind of me failing, one way or another. I was so apprehensive about my potential failure that I came so close to not even showing up to the DMV on the test day, so that I would save myself the misery of failing three times out of three tries. I was going to be the epitome of a bad driver, the failure among my friends whom have passed with ease.

 I was not ready to give up what little dignity I had left. Moreover, if I failed a third time, I would have to retake the permit test, and go through another annoying process just to have more opportunities to take the dreadful driver’s test. The night before the test, my imagination ran wild, and I was kept up at night by images of failure, completely drowning any ounce of confidence I had. Nevertheless, I woke up at 8:30 AM to get ready for my driving test an hour later.

I knew I had to take this test, whether I was going to pass or not. Encouraged by my friends, I felt a little better about my driving. The final factor that made me take the test was that I was so close to the freedom, that if I just relaxed and took the test like how I drove regularly with my mom, then I would be fine. Humorously, I also told myself that if I failed, it doesn’t matter because I won’t take it again until I turned eighteen.  So I took the test, and to my surprise and my crazed imagination, I didn’t hear my instructor say “good luck next time”. 

I was so gloriously happy that I bolted out of the car to my mom, screaming “I PASSED!” I didn’t care what others would think; I was just so incredibly flooded with an overwhelming sense of success, to know that I was one large step closer to adulthood.

There are moments we all share where we look at the potential failure and not what we are doing right. I personally learned that I’m not always ready when it comes to examination time, that even though I have practice, I can always fail. Most importantly, the failures kicked my ego down several notches. I didn’t realize I was such an aggressive driver until the DMV essentially slapped reality into me.

 If handled right, traumatizing moments can make instead of break someone.