Have you ever been nearly hit by a bus? Well, me neither (although I was nearly side swiped by the side mirror of a large tour bus at Broad and Montgomery while waiting to cross an intersection, but that’s a story for another time).
Anyway, I’ll tell you something that has happened. I was once nearly hit by a bicyclist while stepping out of a bus.
Then, I went on about my day like nothing happened.
This, I have found is a common phenomenon not unique to me. All of us face instances during each of our days that could have ended in such tragedy, such trauma that we miss by only a fraction of a second. But, I’m getting ahead of myself and this story. So let me begin again.
My almost collision happened on the corner of Broad and Walnut in the city of Philadelphia. It was a steel-gray, cold morning and the streets themselves were as bleary-eyed as the commuters on the 27 SEPTA bus. Everyone seemed sleepy, their winter attire strewn and hanging from their slumbering bodies.
My mind was as misty as the morning as thoughts dripped off like dew. So, it isn’t shocking that by the time I recognized my stop at Broad and Walnut, I had to gather my stringy winter attire, pull the “please stop the bus” cord, stumble over my own backpack and the feet of others, and (of course) balance my cup of coffee all while feigning a calm-and-cool-as-a-cucumber persona because when you are on city public transportation you have to; lest you want to receive eye-rolls indicating what an obnoxious, inexperienced and entirely uncool idiot you are.
I made it out down the steps and out the side door still fiddling with my personal items and trying frantically (but not too frantically) to perch my bag on my back. Ho hum, hum drum.
WHAT IS COMING AT YOU?, my brain said. I said, “huh?”
My eyes got huge and my body recoiled because, you know, biology and science. My sympathetic nervous system donned its superhero cape and swooped in to save the day. The biker whizzed by. I was frozen solid. In just milliseconds two lives (almost) collided, and it was life altering. Near death experiences often are.
From that moment on, I decided I should look both ways before stepping off buses. And, then I toddled off to work to carry on about my day.
the daily periphery 