I recently traveled to Los Angeles and had to rent a car. Soon, I was driving through narrow downtown lanes, full of traffic and people. I found myself driving very carefully, slower than normal. Why? Well, I didn’t want to have an accident. But I really didn’t want to damage my rental car. It wasn’t mine, after all. I was just, well, borrowing it.
Most of the time, we’d rather be owners than renters. But, as I drove, I couldn’t help but think that renting that car illustrated something important about my relationship to
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