On doing things "out of principle"

Today I made a decision.

It involved turning the car around, and driving back where I came from.

You see, there was something of a blizzard outside when I awoke. With permission not to come into the office today if the weather seemed too risky, I had to make the decision about whether or not I'd attempt the commute.

Stampeding snowmen would have helped make my decision more quickly.

I thought it over, and despite the still-blowing snow and the white roads, I chose to go in. My car managed to waddle through the snowdrifts from the neighborhood onto the main road, so I proceeded, with the half-serious bargain that if I started sliding I'd turn around and go home.

I slid a wee bit while turning a corner and then got stuck for half a second when taking my foot off the brake at the light change from red to green.

My composure was a little shaken, but considering this winter's precipitation inclinations, this was nothing new, I thought, as I surveyed the white skies and white landscape nearly indistinguishable from each other.

I was going in on principle. Everyone else was driving along, albeit slowly and with some skidding, but by golly, if these people could do it so could I! 

It was the principle of the thing. I wasn't going to be bested by snow. I've already had tons of experience driving in this type of mess.

I filled up at the gas station before the highway, expecting a long commute even if it was drive-able (the cars going by didn't look too great...), and again wondered if I should just go home.

Before I reached the highway exit, I made my decision. I turned around.

It wasn't because of any significant event that happened; I didn't narrowly avoid careening into a fellow driver or lose a tire in a ditch. I just realized that "this is dumb. I'm trying to prove to myself that I can drive in a snowstorm. Weak footing for claiming to abide by a principle. How about, 'be safe'?"

I got home without incident and actually managed to be quite productive with other projects during the day. I rounded out the evening with a few episodes of The Office.

And I felt quite, quite satisfied.