Chris McIntyre

I ride my motorcycle to and from work along the same route every day, rain or shine. This morning I approached one of my usual stoplights. At this light, there are four lanes of traffic flowing in both directions, intersected by the same number of lanes crossing at the intersection. To handle the amount of traffic that flows through this intersection, there is a delay for people turning left across the traffic with a left turn light.

On a normal morning, all oncoming traffic comes to a stop, the left arrow turns green, and our two lanes of traffic proceed through the turn… but this morning was unique. I was the first one waiting at the light, and as it turned green I accelerated into the intersection and into the turn. But before I could finish crossing, a homeless man with a shopping cart started crossing the road. I came to a stop and put my feet down as he crossed the intersection about 10 feet in front of me. And just as I came to a stop, a truck ran the red light and sped through the intersection a few inches from the front of my bike! He was so close that the wind from him speeding by nearly blew me over.

So, today was the first time a homeless man has done anything I am thankful for. If he hadn’t stopped traffic by ignoring the traffic signals, I would certainly be dead this morning. So, thank you homeless guy for breaking the law by crossing illegally instead of writing your name with your own feces in front of my apartment this morning. You are an angel.