On Bikes and Birds...

I’ll start with the confession: I stuck up my middle finger at someone yesterday. It was 100% intentional and with a dose of rage. Afterward, the regret set in and then I felt bad. To the assumingly nice woman I flipped off: I apologize for my malevolent response to your horn.

In Seattle there are a multitude of bike commuters. We live on the Burke-Gilman trail where thousands of commuters ride and recreational runners and joggers stay in shape, rain or shine. In the green spirit of becoming a Seattleite, I have made the commitment to ride my bike to class as often as possible. Through the first 4 weeks, I have ridden each time and I really enjoy the 3 mile ride to class. Surprisingly, despite how rainy it has felt, I have only gotten wet on one occasion. I am beginning to take pride in calling myself a bike commuter.

Yesterday, as I was riding to class, a middle-aged woman in a gold Camry laid into her horn at me. As I turned, my left hand came out and I flipped her off as she sped by me. I caught up to her at the next intersection and pulled in front of her avoiding eye contact. I beat her to my destination by over a minute because she had to stop at so many red lights. When I pulled into the parking lot I watched her drive by, still pissed but with a weird hope that she was coming to my Biblical Exegesis class with me.

I vaguely remember a story about a Seminary hiring a missions coordinator and posting someone in the guise of a homeless person outside the office in the path of those invited to interview. Not one of the potential missions coordinators on their way to the interview offered help to the disguised homeless person. In the midst of our personal interests, we tend to glaze over the big picture.

As an urban cyclist I am caught up with my personal interest, for good reason. I ride more aware and more on edge than any drivers I know. I don’t have metal around me to protect me and drivers can be very unpredictable. On the other hand, I ride aggressively and intentionally in order that drivers around me are aware of me and understand where I am going and are not invading my personal space. This preoccupation with my self-interest is a detriment to my ability to offer grace.

I pondered the reasons why this woman blew her horn at me. My best guess is that she felt inclined to scold me for leaving a couple seconds early before our green light. My opinion is that was just an excuse for her to vent her misunderstanding of how and why bike commuters ride. I’m sure she is a nice woman. Maybe I’ll run into her at church or something. We can talk about misunderstandings between drivers and bike commuters and exegeting the Hebrew word shalom, which is a much better greeting than horns and birds.