The Psychlist

Perhaps today I have finally learned my place. I am a simpleton. My capacity for imagination is limited and I see that I am incapable of thinking outside of the box. As creative as I thought I had been it was simply the fact that I was inside a bigger box than I thought. Oh, if I had only learned this sooner. Yes, the notion that perhaps my vision was more broad and encompassing has been exposed as a desperate fraud, a hubris of unfounded hope.

My eyes have been opened and with a new and shining light I have seen the scope of my own limitation and my willing subjugation to the unimaginative rules of the road. It seems silly now that the freedom of cycling should succumb to the arbitrary rules that apply to others. Indeed the liberation of air, wind, and speed demand liberties and advantages of privilege.

Today I watched as one of my more enlightened kinsmen moved along with the dignity of his station. He was no motorist, he was a cyclist, and as such he could go where he wanted, when he wanted and he did not preoccupy himself with such trivial concepts of courtesy, safety or patience. No, as a being holding such high position, he would not stoop to put on his head a helmet, nor on his body brightly covered clothing. One of such standing will be seen by others without the ostentatious show to which I have stooped.

Did it matter when there were pedestrians on the sidewalk? I watched in horror as three apparent colleagues were walking, deeply engaged in conversation. As they approached the sidewalk I realized that Lord Cyclist was not even looking in front of him but was admiring the facade of a large hotel. But as you would expect, the cyclist should not yield, it was incumbent upon those who were merely ambling along the sidewalk to jump out of the way and ensure the safe travel of the clearly more exalted than they.

But the real test was yet to come. Have I really for all of these years believed that I should obey traffic lights and stop when they are red? How could I have been such a concrete thinker? Today I observed the true power that comes from cycling; the ability to ignore all thoughts about the safety and well being of anyone. I witnessed that all others yield to the power of the bike. Inexplicably as that apparently unprotected rider approached the red light, all other traffic relented and ceded a path so that the rider, unaware of the dangers that surrounded him, passed through without worry or fear.

Perhaps it is time for me to reassess my attitude while riding through the town. Perhaps I will assume my rightful place and demand the rights of cycling. Perhaps I can ascend to that pedestal of power and demand the privileges granted by the natural laws of arrogance, superiority, stupidity and gall.