People as people

People–cyclists–often complain about other people–motorists. I get it, I’ve have my fair share of negative encounters with motorists. But people are people, more than what we judge them, capable of all things.

Enjoying a 75km road ride after work a few days ago, I found myself riding a stretch of road that had recently been turned to gravel, prepped to soon be refinished. Already a rather narrow country road with no shoulder, the soft gravel near the road’s edge forced me to ride further near the middle, in the slightly compressed stone tracks left by recent vehicles.

Up ahead a pick-up truck drove towards me, sending up a long, tall plume of dust. Soon the truck began to slow down, perhaps to turn into a laneway. As we approached each other it slowed further, finally pulling to the side of the road and coming to a complete stop.

As I safely rode past the truck, the driver and I casually waved. I offered an “I appreciate it” to the open window. Once I was at least a good ten feet away, he got back under way.

If that person–an older white man in a beat-up farmer’s pick-up truck–had not slowed down but had blasted on by, I would have judged him some sort of redneck, hick, country, bumpkin asshole. But that same person showed me such utter respect and compassion. He also knew that it was safest for us both to slow down and stop as he did.

That person. That motorist. People as people.