<span class="gmail_quote">On 9/28/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Jeff Young</b> <<a href="mailto:jeffyboz@gmail.com">jeffyboz@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><br><div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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<div>My high-mindedness, however, breaks down with traffic violations; i.e., something that affects me directly. With your logic, I should take another look at the guy driving the garbage truck, who happens to be talking on his cell phone, and making a left turn in front of me... I should think about how he was raised, perhaps in a law-of-the-jungle type Southie neighborhood, without ever having considered what it was like to be a cyclist on the streets of Boston, never having access to higher education, etc.
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<div>And to be honest with you, I know in my mind that you are right: I should be be the bigger person. After all, I am educated, I have a great job, two beautiful daughters, great legs (thanks to biking--no offense to you scooter malingerers) etc. But, and I'm sure anybody who's ridden a bike in this city for five minutes knows what I'm taking about, I feel fear, tremendous fear, then anger, followed by rage, and finally hatred when that truck turns towards me. I hate that guy. I hate everyone who's ridden before me in this city that's braked because of a$$holes like him. The legacy of 'bigger people,' who have been letting that MF get away with it for years, has forced me to yield when it's my right to ride, free from fear...
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<div>I have no idea whatsoever how to resolve this conflict...</div></blockquote><div><br> </div>The way to resolve the conflict is to deal with whatever baggage that causes you to be mean and disrespectful to others, first. Once you know how to be a "bigger person" yourself, it will start to rub off on others, with an avalanche effect that spreads out to everyone eventually.
<br><br>At least that's the best theory I've seen...<br><br>Peace, Love, and Bicycles,<br>-Turtle<br><br>who's been working hard on being a better person a heck of a lot lately.<br></div>