This morning, as I lay face down on a road after tripping on my way to my bus stop, I realized that my painful predicament had as much to do with public policy as it did with my own inattentiveness.
To wit: my daily commute involves a long walk through a private, commercial enterprise that I presume gets some sort of compensation from the state in exchange for providing access to state-run mass transit. So on the one hand it's great that there is access to public transit at all. But what's not great is that to use it, I have to put myself at the mercy of a private, commercial enterprise.
That private, commercial enterprise is designed to be used by car-driving shoppers. There are no sidewalks where I tripped and fell, so most of us bus commuters have to make a choice between two unattractive options: to walk on uneven terrain next to the roadway, or to walk in the roadway itself. This morning I chose the latter, which resulted in my encounter with a rogue lug nut, a spectacular splat and a broken ankle.
I don't have any solutions to offer except that mass transit is a good and necessary thing, and so are sidewalks, and I think there should be more of both. I also enjoy driving and shopping. I'm not planning to sue anybody, but after this morning, I am thinking more about the little ways public policy choices affect my daily life. Anybody out there feel me on this?