Essay/Term paper: Getting my driver's license

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Expository Essays

Matt Robbins
American Literature
Getting My Driver"s License


Rites of passage, what are they, and what do they mean? Well, they are experiences, abilities, rights, or privileges that give you a sense of freedom or maturity. For me, getting my license was a sign of greater maturity and responsibility in my life.
In the past years, I have had to rely on my parents to take me places and have had almost no choice whether I wanted to go somewhere or not. This got very frustrating and caused quite a few minor arguments. Recently, about three months ago, it became harder and harder to live without being able to drive myself places. I had realized that it was closer and closer every day and not much else stood in the way. The only sizable obstacle was going through, and passing driver"s education. Once I was comfortable with the class and behind the wheel of the car, I knew that the class was not going to be a problem. As I had expected it was not, the driving tasks were fairly easy and simple, and the worksheets and tests were a breeze! Now that I had all legal requirements met, I was very eager to get my license and start driving on my own. It took the instructor about three weeks to finally have the completion slips signed and ready for us to take.
The day after they were ready, I got my completion slip and left to get my driver"s license and a new computer (I was actually more eager to get the computer that day). We go to the mall and all I had to do was take an eye exam!! I was very surprised, I figured I would at least have to take a written test over the material covered in the manual. I finally had the one thing that would change my life forever. I suddenly felt more free and mature. I felt mature because I could finally go out and do things on my own and I was trusted to do so responsibly. I did not take that trust lightly either. I knew that messing anything up while driving would cause a great hassle and a lot of unnecessary grief.
Now that I have my license and have had it for a week, I have found that it is a great responsibility and needs to be treated as such. I feel more mature now. Maybe it is just because I am freer to do what I want more of the time, or if it is the fact that I am less of a burden on people, and a greater one to myself. Getting my license has been a great goal in my life, as keeping it will continue to be for as long as I have it.