Who would have thought that the dull old issue of parking could spark such a lot of feeling?

Since North Ayrshire Council introduced parking attendants, a lot of money has changed hands and strong views have been circulating.

What is it about parking that gets us so animated?

Well, there’s the nonsense about it being my ‘right to park where I like; I pay my taxes’ to more sensible, ‘why don’t we trust the public to self-regulate'?

There is, though, an argument that runs that, ‘it’s not until we understand parking that we will understand human nature'.

As has been pointed out, no one thinks about parking until they can’t find a parking place. Then the love of our neighbour and those around us can be sorely tested.

The book called Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar, tries to explain how parking and finding a parking place has completely distorted planning in the Unites States of America.

The issue has led to a few deaths over there and there have been a few here. As parking became more of an issue, we have seen violence, corruption and self-interest take centre stage.

Maybe, as someone else put it, we are more bothered about the car than the people in them. I like to think that I behave well when it comes to parking but when I am at Crosshouse Hospital trying to find parking before an appointment, my good will for others wears pretty thin.

As Henry Graber points out, we think that parking is worthless because it is just land and a few white lines. Whereas in fact parking is expensive. Land costs and, however we develop it, it needs maintenance.

Who would have thought that something as basic as parking would be there as a mirror into the soul of human beings but there it is.

When things work well, we’re fine. When they don’t it has the potential to bring the worst out of us.

So even parking is a reminder to us that our human nature needs maintenance and care.

We need to be aware of the flash points that can bring out the worst of us, so that we can, with thought and care, always be in a position to behave the best that we can, rather than give way to our own selfish, self-interest.