Deviant

Last nite on my ride home I came across some more graffiti. I’m a big fan of street art and the various places it pops up.

While ingesting my morning ‘cup of ambition’ at ACC a patron by the name of Murray sat down and started a dialog. ‘Good morning’
‘Good morning, how are you?’
‘I don’t think you want to ask me that question. I’ve been through 48 years of hardship, depression, and pain. And you probably don’t want me to get started on that.’
‘Beautiful day, isn’t it?’
‘They’re all beautiful when you’re a poet.’ Murray is a street poet and plays the Jazz trumpet. He doesn’t have a job and hasn’t paid taxes in 10 years. He does ‘odd jobs’ here and there to make his modest rent every month. He loves to shock people at various corners in downtown Seattle by announcing ‘truths’ to large groups waiting to cross the street or get on a bus. He doesn’t preach. He wants people to think, and pay attention to what is going on outside of our own self importance.
While I wouldn’t consider myself much of deviant…I like the idea of not conforming to the norm of driving everywhere I go. I don’t put myself on some Eco soapbox and tout about how I’m decreasing my Carbon Footprint…shoot, my carbon bike is proof of that. Currently our roads are set up with cars and mass transportation of people and goods in mind and as long as this stays the norm…I will deviate from what they tell me the intended use of the pavement is. “I see you riding your bike all over the place, don’t I?”
“If you hang out here and around Downtown, you may have seen me riding.”
“That’s good. Keep it up.”