I'm dressed properly, in purple Silk Road attire.
I'm on my way to the station of busses, and at some point will need to cross the road. I look right and see the flashing hand with 8 seconds to cross.
I pretty much always go for it. If you run, even 1 second is usually enough.
I have plenty of time, but I find that when I drag my feet, it's more effort than if I just ran decently. So I focus on good, athletic strides.
I hear someone yell at me.
Peasant, I think.
I've blogged before about how some people in cars like to yell at pedestrians for no apparent reason, and I've gotten good at just not showing any reaction.
I figure I'll get to the other side safely, then stop and see if there's a reason to look.
I get to the other side safely, stop, look, and he's pointing to my phone in the middle of the road.
I wave, sprint into the road, gather my belongings, wave again, overflowing with appreciation, and sprint back to the side where I started from.
(It was a wasted couple of minutes, but it didn't result in a missed bus.)
I'm usually strongly on guard about not dropping things, and it's annoying to me that I did it, and didn't notice. Didn't feel it or hear it. I blame it on the athletic strides.
And these shorts are a pair that I haven't worn much.
Nice to bump into a good fellow citizen and be cared for like that.
It might seem like a small thing that anyone would have done, but even just being alert and noticing it is strong and separates him from the pack.
It's good to be alert and engaged with the world around you.
And cars, in their endless stupidity, tend to encourage people to be isolated and not be engaged, even while adding a dangerous piece of machinery to the equation.
So I really appreciate the individual drivers who are responsible and good while they do it.
If roads weren't a government monopoly (read: racket), people who drive cars would pay so much more to use the road, relative to people who walk or bike.
There's just naturally a much higher cost of riding a car across the road. Wear and tear, and way more liability and chance of damages.
Riding a bike or walking or using public transit has to be a tiny fraction of the cost, as far as maintaining roads goes.
Immediately more people would start to ride bikes (or, bike and public bus system hybrid).
And then it builds on itself where it's gradually safer to ride bikes, as there's more designated space for bikes and less people driving cars.
More demand for robust public transport options.
And gradually the egg shell peels in that manner.
So, depending on cars really has nothing to do with people actually depending on them or being stuck in their ways or unwilling to change.
They'd indeed change, if you let them.
It has everything to do with force and hierarchy and using those things to build our environment.
If that's how we build our environment, it will naturally suck and naturally be dangerous and kill people.
Thank you again, mister car driver man.
That was very nice of you.
I'm not that hooked on using the phone, but my day would have sucked if I had to look for it and get a new one and figure out what data or apps I need to recover or whatever.
Or if someone rode over it.
Gold star. ⭐️
Great person.