You should know, dear reader, that I do not choose the topics on which I evangelize. Rather, they find me. It's as if the Universe has commanded my purpose during my time on earth and then goes out of its way to put circumstances in my path which I am impelled to use in my teachings. Such is also the case with today's topic.
For I seem to have, of late, experienced more than my fair share of pedestrians and bicyclists walking directly in front of my car while it is moving. I began to wonder if my city didn't have a time period devoted to such a pursuit--similar to "Ride Your Bike to Work Day" only titled "Walk in Front of a Moving Vehicle Month" or perhaps a "Defy Death in Denver Day". But after some research, I determined this was not the case. Therefore, my only logical conclusion is that it is a subject upon which I have been called to educate the masses.
Now while walking in front of moving vehicles falls more aptly into the "lack of common sense" category, one could also argue--in the big picture sense--that it is also lack of courtesy to the extreme. Imagine the angst of the person who hits you, perhaps even kills you. If you take your own life so lightly, that is your right, but it would be case of extreme rudeness to condemn an innocent motor vehicle operator to years of flashbacks and night terrors due to your thoughtlessness. Very rude, indeedy!
I can only assume that the meism in our society has reached such epic proportions that those who ascribe to its philosophy feel that they are invincible. In fact, "meism" (a description I thought I'd quasi-invented) turns out to be a bona fide word, defined by the Urban Dictionary as "Self-importance without any evidence that we (or our world view) actually matter."
Hmmm...I'm pretty sure that the young man of a definite Generation Y species (a.k.a. "the punk") that arrogantly sauntered (he would have swaggered, but given that the waistband of his pants was somewhere south of his buttocks cheeks, he had to settle for sauntering) directly in front of our moving car one night last week, ascribes to the philosophy of meism. I'm not sure, though. Do you think it's a meist doctrine to stop in the middle of a busy street after nearly getting mowed down by an SUV and then chuck the bird at the now-unnerved driver? Because if it is, in the name of religious freedom, we will not accuse this young man of breaching Common Sense Courtesy. He can take his principles with him...right to his early grave.
And so I have but two Common Sense Courtesy rules to impart on this topic, but they are sound ones. Listen closely, for they may have a familiar ring, hearkening back to what your mother taught you as a six year old.
- Look both ways before crossing the street.
- Don't play in traffic.
