Be the Change, Or At Least Change Your Shirt

Yesterday I was riding my bike to the grocery store. I take a route through my neighborhood to minimize how many major roads I have to cross. I ride in the street because bikes are supposed to, and because there are often kids and other obstacles on the sidewalks.

I use hand turn signals and everything, and usually I don't have problems from drivers, but this kid in a red jeep was really eager to get somewhere and insisted on dangerously speeding up and swerving around myself and a parked car he encountered as he passed.

Clearly he wasn't interested in the fact that by "taking the road" (this is edict for bike riders, to stay at least 4 feet away from the curb, to increase visibility to drivers and reduce the chances of accidents by riding too close to the curb) I was reducing his liabilities.

I pulled into the grocery store parking lot, and as I was chaining up my bike, the same guy pulls into the parking lot after me. (You have to admit I'm entitled to a special sense of glee beating him there!) His eye caught mine and I could tell he looked ashamed, as he knew he had acted like an ass, and here we were, shopping at the same store.

That moment was enough to make me feel vindicated, but the best part was as I was leaving the store, I saw him at the can deposit area, his back turned to me with the slogan on his t-shirt reading, "Be the Change." What an embarrassment for him!

I know it's easy to be rude to strangers you think you'll never see and perhaps only try to treat people you know nicely. But you really never know who you will encounter, or what your impact will be on them or yourself, however brief.