The Irony of Guardrails

Ok, so i was driving home this evening, sitting in my (way too low gas mileage) Nissan Juke and found myself pondering the guardrails and concrete medians that border either side of the Mass Pike. These are objects that are meant to keep you safe, preventing you from barreling headlong into oncoming traffic or running off of the road straight into a ditch.   According to Wikipedia:

Guard rail or guardrail, sometimes referred to as guide rail or railing, is a system designed to keep people or vehicles from (in most cases unintentionally) straying into dangerous or off-limits areas.

Fine, guard rails are protecting me from danger...great!   However, what happens when for some mysterious reason, your car decides it wants to make friends with the guardrail?  At this point, the guardrail goes from something that wants to keep you safe to something that will total your car.  Further, if you smash into it fast enough you might end up totalling yourself too.  Not the best plan.  Suddenly this construct that was put into place to keep us safe is actually causing pain.

(Do you smell the metaphor yet?)

Ok, ok,  forget about the death and destruction part; what if you simply want to get across and see what's on the other side of the road? (HEY, it could be a chicken!)  If you are on a small country lane, no problem...3 point turn (thank you driver's ed) and BAM, you're there.  If on the other hand you are on a divided highway with guardrails, forget about it.    The guardrails tell you "wait, this is off-limits" and prevent you from moving forwards.

SO, here's the real question:  How do you get around the guardrails??  Forget the guardrails on the Pike; what about the guardrails around your heart?  I know I have some.   In fact, lately they've are becoming a real pain in the you-know-what.  I often wonder how they got there and what I can do to break them down and see what's on the other side.  I have a funny feeling that there really is an entire universe in there and I'm SO curious to learn about it.


Break down your guardrails and you might discover your own heartuniverse...