Аннотация: Английский вариант миниатюры "Суть людская".
For a two-week trip across France and the Benelux countries, I rented a car at the Paris Orly Airport. After seeing all of the attractions of Flanders, Luxemburg and north-eastern France, I parked the rented diesel Opel at the Enterprise office. Two weeks ago Enterprise had kindly allowed me to drive this marvel of the German automotive industry to see the sites.
The rental company gave it to me graciously, but was in no hurry to take it back. I stood in front of their office for about an hour and watched as the slender Frenchman rushed from one car to another with new customers explaining the terms of the lease to them. The young fellow was in no hurry inspect my vehicle for scratches, dents, and fill the fuel tank. It was understandable; after all I had already paid for the service. So, why should he rush to take my Opel back, when a fist-full of new potential customers were walking around? He was in a hurry catching them all and it was clear.
But I'm not talking about him. I'm talking about us.
The concrete floor of multilevel parking hosts a plenty of companies similar to Enterprise and was not built for racing. Dozens of arriving and departing air passengers were scurrying around with suitcases on wheels and bags over their shoulders. Someone loaded their belongings into the trunk of a rented car, while someone else was unloading them from other cars. Some vehicles had children, and in nearly half of them there was a woman at the wheel. In general, the traffic in the parking lot was heavy and the atmosphere was unsafe. Therefore, to prevent accidents speedbumps had been installed every ten metres.
It was definitely a great idea, but in practice it turned out to be completely useless.
Human essence is that we hold dear only to things that belong to us personally. These rented cars are not on a list of personal belongings. As a result you have travellers from around the world racing on a multi-level parking lot at the international airport of Orly. They pay no attention to the "Sleeping cops" as they jump over the speedbumps without even bothering to slow down. They go so fast and so furious that the concrete floor shakes under your feet.