Reality can bite. As I rode up to the corner on my Harley, I realized that I needed to be patient. The mother and children in the van were dangerous. You could see the kids arms flying in all kinds of directions. They looked like they were having serious fun! At the same time, she had a phone to her ear in what appeared to be a serious conversation. She glanced my direction and hesitated.
She had rolled up to the stop sign at the same time I arrived. Even though I was running late, I was not going to move! The stark visuals in my mind contained two scenes. The first one was the conversation that I would have when I arrived at my scheduled appointment. The second one included a Harley Davidson meeting a distracted mother driving a minivan. It included a damaged bike and the sight of blood.
Bad events happen to the innocent and the guilty. There are frequent examples on the stretches of I-10 and I-215 that I ride. Each holds a top place as the most dangerous stretches of roads to drive in America. I have witnessed messy outcomes as innocents pay the same price as everyone else. The presence of firemen, burnt cars, ambulances, stretches, and wreckers continues to etch memories in my heart.
Whatever you think might think you might be doing, in many ways does not matter. Something may happen at any time! Life does not seem to care. Forces strike those deserving as well as those not.
The punch line is not new. Across the ages, there are recurring stories. In one, people took action. The response was that “the possessed man went berserk—jumped the exorcists, beat them up, and tore off their clothes. Naked and bloody, they got away as best they could.” (Acts 19.16) They paid a price for their ignorance.
I sat on my bike and waited. I was going to be late. A car pulled up behind me, equally impatient. I watched, not daring to move. I wanted to avoid reality’s touch.
