Roll With It
We have to choose our battles. Not everything in life is worth resisting and fighting with all our might. Sometimes when events knocks us off our feet it’s best to just roll with it.
One time back in 1976, I literally did just that.
I was in a big hurry as I ran toward a large public building on a busy four-lane city street with islands. In front of me was a pedestrian crossing with its own dedicated traffic light. The light was green. I hoped to make it across before the light changed. I was about 20 yards away when the light went yellow. So I increased my speed and hoped to get across all four lanes of traffic and the island in the middle before the light turned red. But the light went red as I was crossing the first two lanes.
I decided to keep running as fast as I could. I could have stopped on the island…but I was in a big hurry after all.
I glanced right and saw the heavy traffic approaching…and I kept on running. But, horrors! I tripped as I left the island. Alarms went off in my head. I visualized the cars barreling toward me as my face flew downward toward the pavement. Without even thinking, I tucked and rolled. Amazingly I was back on my feet and still running. I crossed a second island and traversed the three additional lanes where taxis, buses, and autos dropped off passengers at the building’s main entrance. When I reached the safety of the sidewalk in front of the building I abruptly changed my gait from a sprint to a walk. At that exact moment I passed two young women who, just a second or two earlier, had seen me fall, roll, recover, and continue running. I overheard one of them say, “Wow. Just like James Bond!”
I didn’t know exactly what to think of that statement. (Did I detect awe or sarcasm in the young woman’s voice?) I felt like a fool for defying the light and tripping in the middle of the boulevard. But, on the other hand, I was glad I was able to ‘roll with it’—and that I lived to tell the tale.
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Aloha, Oregon—16 May 2013—©2013 Daniel Kemper Lubben
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