Once upon a time in a far away land, there lived two men – Anthony and Jeffrey. They were two very decent gentlemen who respected each other in many ways.

Some years back, Jeffrey had had a motor vehicle accident after which life for him was never the same again. He had gone out drinking one night and drove home breaking a few traffic rules and crashed into a car coming from the opposite direction.

One morning, Jeffrey tells Anthony: “Anthony, I had a dream. I think we should start driving on the right side of the road, instead of the left.”

“What are you saying Jeff? We’ve been driving on the left-hand side for ages, and what’s more, the traffic flows smoothly.”

“Of course, you say that ’cos you’ve never had an accident like some of us have and everything is hunky dory for you.”

“No Jeff everything is not hunkydory for me, but the likes of me don’t have accidents because we keep to the rules. And let’s face it Jeff, you never took your driving lessons seriously. All you had in mind was driving and showing off that flashy new car of yours.”

“Oh come on get off your high horse. And anyway what is it to you if others are given a second choice of driving on the right? You do your thing. I’ll do mine.”

“But Jeff, driving on the left is part and parcel of good driving. By definition, good driving is driving on the left-hand side.”

“Come on Anthony. You know we are about the only nation that drives on the left. Except for some Commonwealth countries we are the only ones. Could it be that all the others are wrong, and we are the good saintly ones!”

“And they don’t have accidents?” interrupted Anthony.

“Oh they do, too. And until they all changed over to the right side, they had more and more. But now that they have had their second choice, nearly all of them drive on the right.”

“Jeff, I still don’t think it’s a good idea. If we keep to our way of doing things we’ll have uniformity and things will carry on smoothly as they have done throughout all these years. And look at the progress we have made.”

“Anthony, the number of drivers who don’t stick to your rules are increasing day by day. Why not make it legal? Come out in the open and end this hypocrisy.”

“Because it’s wrong Jeff, that’s why. And if all the world will be doing the wrong thing, it still remains wrong. It is their attitude that should change, not the rules.”

“Oh you are impossible. This is the 21st century, you know. And you call yourself liberal?”

“I am a liberal but not a libertine. The free-for-all has never been good before and nor will it be in the 21st century.”

“I don’t understand you Anthony. So you don’t care about all those poor drivers who have had accidents?”

“There’s nothing much to understand. Yes I appreciate that some drivers have accidents, but in most cases it is because they do not drive well. They are either attending to their mobiles or eyeing women on the other side of the road.”

“And what about John and Mary?”

“Oh yes, there are the few unlucky ones who have an accident through no apparent fault of their own.

“But these are few. They should be helped. But changing a whole system that has stood the test of time for a few unlucky ones and others who do not abide by the rules, is not on.”

Jeff puts on his coat and settles the conversation, “Come on Anthony, let’s go to the local club and see what the boys think of my dream”.