Self-justification

I ate a piece of blueberry pie a la mode and called it the grains group, the fruit group, and the dairy group, so I can justify anything. One thing I have not been able to justify is using a cell phone while driving. That may be because I have never owned a cell phone before, so I lack practice in justifying. But even we Luddites generally join in modernity at the end of the parade, and now my mother has given me a pre-paid cell gadget, which she considers part of the necessary accoutrements of a responsible single Mom.

It couldn't have come at a worse time. As of November 1st, Pennsylvania has finally come around to the line of thinking I was espousing from the beginning regarding the glorified walky-talkies, joining Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, California, and Washington, in banning the devices in traffic. The late-in-coming policy may be based on the astounding triumph of common sense over convenience.

Or lawmakers may have read the findings of the University of Utah study published in the June 2006 issue of "Human Factors: The Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomic Society." "Having a cell phone pressed to your ear while behind the wheel is the equivalent of driving while intoxicated….The level impairment is very similar," says the study's lead author.

I feel my self-justification powers shifting into high gear.