Overcoming Obstacles: A Short Story

I rise when I am told. I slow and speed when needed. I am tough. I am rugged. I comfort you and protect you. I see no color, race, religion, or gender. I grab life by the wheel and steer through it with ease. I roar, I screech, I growl. I glide around the road of life. Every morning awake in the shadows of comfort. With minor tweaks to my bodywork I am ready for the day. I turn my key and open the garage, ready to emerge from the shadows of comfort and drive the road of life. For in my life I will see many friends, enemies, and fans. My friends will build me up to become the fiercest car on the track. They will help fix me when I collide with obstacles. My friends will guide me through the road of life. My enemies try to overtake me and pass
The known obstacles are avoided with ease. Then suddenly a hidden obstacle appears, attempting to change my course and thwart my efforts to stay on the road of life. I slam my breaks, and screech to a halt: attempting to avoid a disaster on the road of life. I navigate around the obstacle with care but it can not be avoided. My paint is scratched and my body is dented but I will survive. Once clear of the obstacle I floor it, back on the road of life attacking every corner and straight away. Lap after lap, race after race, season after season I attack the road of life. I return to the garage every so often to have my maintenance. New parts, paint, and tires. I keep returning to the road of life, each time knowing more and more. I have become an expert know. No obstacle is a surprise, and all dangers are known. I am at the peak of my race on the road of life. Powerful and graceful, a beast I have become. it seems as if no competitors can challenge me. I am a champion on the road of life. My ignorance is growing. I overlook the unproven racers. Fear is not building. I stop attacking and become complacent. Eventually other cars come along. They try to pass me on the road of life. At first they fail. Being a veteran racer I skillfully thwart their effort to pass me. As time goes on and more distance is covered the other cars creep up on me. They are now veterans as well, racers ready to pass me on the road of life. I try to block them, but I can do no more. They overtake me and speed away down the road of life. I have been defeated. My crew calls me to the garage, they know it is time. As I slow I realize that my time has come. I am ready to accept that my time as a racer is done. I fear for the worst. Will I be taken apart, or left for scrap in a rust filled lot where all hope is gone? I am filled with fear once more as my future is unknown. I am kept in my dark garage, not knowing what is going on with the