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For about 6 years now, I've owned an Acura NSX.

When the car was introduced, it was widely considered to be one of the most sophisticated vehicles of its time - all aluminum construction, titanium connecting rods, and an 8000 RPM red line. For the ensuing 14 years, it would remain largely unchanged. The designers of the car were chartered with pursuing the ultimate vehicle - and for its time, that's what it was. It was not only a car, it was the manifestation of a dream and of one team's pursuit for perfection. Behind the AC unit of every NSX, there is a sticker that says "an eternal sports mind for you" signed by the captain who led the team that hand-built that car.

As the years have gone on, I've done literally everything I can to drive my copy and maintain it. I've replaced control panels, repainted body parts, and repaired every and anything that ever goes wrong with it. I've always felt that owning this car, was owning some person's conception of perfection. For me, that held great meaning and I took extraordinary pride in that. To boot, despite its advanced age, it is still a very fast car. Most car magazines rate it as one of the top 10 cars with the highest top speed in the world.

I have grown accustomed to life in the fast line these years, but soon that would change.

Recently, I was privy to a showing of an "Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore. The message in the film, which pertained to global warming, so moved me that I went out and purchased another Honda product: the Insight.

The Insight as it is, is one of the highest mileage mass produced car ever produced (apparently it is not actually the highest). It's diminutive engine has taken some getting used to - having driven a car that weighs the same but has nearly 3x the horsepower, I feel as if I have been transplanted into a new world.

Life, in the slow lane.

Here are some of the key lessons I've learned:

1. Changing lanes doesn't get you to where you want to go any faster. In fact, sometimes changing lanes too many times can slow you down.

2. Driving quickly doesn't save you much time. Of course, the mathematics supports this - that driving 55 mph versus 85 mph will save you minutes not hours.

3. Driving slowly is less stressful. When you drive a slow car, you are not compelled to prove anything. When people pass you up, you smile and wave. You don't have the big, fancy, powerful car that they have so it's okay.

4. What you drive makes a difference in where you want to go. As it turns out, my vehicle is blessed with one of the California approved HOV stickers. When I return home from work between 6 and 7 each night - it gives me great pleasure to see car after car in a dead stop as I zip past them.

All of this has led me to wonder, is there some analogy from this experience that I can correlate to life itself?