Common Courtesy

One of the things I've noticed is that common courtesy seems to be waning everywhere.  Where once people looked out to make sure that they weren't inconveniencing anyone, now it seems that most people have a "me first" attitude toward everything.

I ended up buying a new mountain bike from my friend yesterday and took it out on a paved trail just to see how it handled on regular street paths.  The path I chose this morning is crowded in the morning.  I get that.  But I was going up hill so I wasn't traveling very fast  so it's relatively easy to avoid getting in the way of a bicyclist.  I'm constantly calling out "on your left" to alert people that I'm approaching that I'm coming up and intend to pass them on their left.  Most people move over slightly and that's fine as they really don't have to as there's always space to pass easily.

This morning I came up on two groups of people.  It was apparent they were talking about something, perhaps the dog one of them had because the other bent down to pet the dog.  The problem was, they'd seen me coming up the path.  I had slowed down because they weren't moving out of the way and that's when the one woman bent down to pet the dog in the middle of the path.  Are you freakin' kidding me?  Yep, they forced me off the path because they refused to move out of the way so I could pass them.

That's my rant of the day.  And just so you know, I do know there is a lot of common courtesy out there as well.  Just this past April, several teachers and I took a group of kids (7th and 8th graders) into Los Angeles on the Metrolink.  At lunch time, the group that I sat with all pulled their phones out and put them in the middle of the table, intending to have a lunch without social media.  We had a very good conversation, because no one was immersed in their phone.  It was a welcome breath of fresh air and proved to me that there is still hope for our species.  Now, hopefully, this small gesture can replicate itself.

And I know I've said this before, but I intend to write more frequently.  For whatever reason, the first months of the school year seem to suck up all of my time.  And just to let you know.  All this biking has led to me shedding almost 12 pounds so far since the beginning of July when I started biking.