The Unsolicited Advice I Took to Heart
This piece appeared March 12, 2014 in the Huffington Post. I was almost run over crossing the street the other day. Near misses happen in my busy neighborhood with alarming frequency, but this one came perilously close to flattening me -- closer even than the day a motorcycle drove right up onto the sidewalk. Despite the broad yellow stripes indicating a pedestrian crosswalk and the familiar, red, octagonal sign painted STOP, it was obvious the woman in the Mercedes SUV wasn't going to. When I halted in the middle of the street, she finally glanced my way and hit the brakes. "Oh, I didn't see you," she said, unremorsefully as she rolled down her window. "I was just looking straight ahead." (Didn't we learn in Driver's Ed to look both ways before proceeding into an intersection?) "You didn't even come to a complete stop," I scolded, with upturned palms. And that's when I heard the voice of a jogging stranger. "Aw...