With apologies to Dr. Seuss, I remember it going something like this:
"A long time ago, in the prairie of Prax, a North-Going Gax met a South-Going Gax."
And because neither of them would move for the other, they stood there nose to nose and had a freeway bypass built over them, rather than step one foot aside to be kind to another person. Now, as I look at this image, it seems a little familiar,. perhaps because I met the South-Going Gax today. On the sidewalk in my neighborhood. And she was rude. And even though
I had the perfect comeback, and actually USED it, she didn't hear it. So you, poor readers, get to!
We (ok, me, Monkey and the dogs) try to walk Dolly to her school if time and weather allow. We're doing about 3 days a week average in the morning and pretty much every afternoon. We're the last street in the school district. The people behind us not only go to another school, it's in another district, so we do have quite a long walk to/from school. Our end of the walk is usually pretty deserted, but up at the school end, it's a foot traffic nightmare. Still, the bike/pedestrian path through the park is well maintained and everybody tries to do their best to be nice. Sometimes it gets messy, but the kids on bikes go around the pedestrians and strollers, pedestrians pass each other politely, and strollers pretty much get a pass on going on the grass and getting stuck-common sense and basic manners, right? I thought so, but evidently,
I am wrong. Little did I know, there are some people in my neighborhood who have
automatic right of way and
NEVER have to step off the sidewalk!!
Today Monkey in the stroller, the fluffies and I, after meeting Dolly halfway home, are the only people on the street. Stroller in front, dogs behind me, and Dolly walking alongside. She likes to walk WAY in front of me and carry on conversations that are aimed in my general direction, but too far away to hear, but today she was actually walking beside me. Along comes a woman with her cel phone pressed against her ear, looking fixedly at the ground, and stops right in front of the stroller. We of course come to a stop. Dolly tries to go ahead, but can't get past the lady to make passing space, and her rolling backpack (containing half her body weight in textbooks) won't back up. I can't budge forward, the woman is standing stock-still in the middle of the sidewalk. I can't go backward, the dogs are on my heels, NOT taking up passing-room on the sidewalk, I might add, and the stroller can't go onto the grass without epic struggle. I tried several times to wiggle past right, edge past left, succeeding only in getting the stroller caught in the rolly-backpack wheels. I finally looked at the woman and said "I 'm sorry, I can't get the stroller past." She has been watching all of this simply waiting for us to somehow magically disappear so she can walk her straight line path, I suppose. In the most condescending tone possible, she says "It's all right, but we all have to share the sidewalk, you know," and
with her foot pushes the stroller sideways so her shoes don't touch the grass. I turned to her and said, "Yes, and sometimes that means
taking turns." And she walked on, totally oblivious, without making any eye contact at all.
Am I missing something here? Was there an entitlement lottery I didn't get a ticket to? Did someone steal my dear husband's lifelong dream of bribing lawmakers into designating them a private lane on the road? I go around people all the time, it's part of respecting personal space. I take my dogs onto the grass to let joggers pass, or groups, or strollers. People go around me as well, all the time, whether it's just me and the dogs, or the stroller. Dogs should generally yield to human traffic. Pedestrians generally yield to strollers, and bikes generally yield to pedestrians. Joggers can go around walkers, or walkers can step aside for joggers. You don't walk between a kid and their adult in close quarters. When does a woman clearly walking for exercise in gym shoes and running shorts trump a kid in a stroller?
I'm sure there are people out there who would call me entitled, taking up the whole sidewalk, but should a stroller legitimately have to go on the grass for a healthy pedestrian to pass? I'm sure my little fit of pique isn't important to anyone but me, but it really bugged me, I guess mostly because she left us with no options at all. I guess it's important to me to realize that while my family was taking up the whole sidewalk, it was a whole family, and not just one person being obstinate and refusing to acknowledge others. And it bothers me, that this is still bothering me.
No variations allowed!
