I had an encounter while commuting to work the other day that made me stop and think for a moment. It wasn't a real big deal....at first glance, but upon further consideration, I feel it was something much larger than it seemed.

I was on my way to work when an oncoming motorist slowed to a stop to make a left turn. As she waited for me to pedal out of her way, I looked at her. It was plain to see that she was slightly annoyed by my snail-like pace. Such a small thing like a bicycle in her way. How frustrating!

Well, I kept looking at her until she glanced at my eyes, and at that moment I waved in a gesture of thanks and hello. And you know what? She smiled. She smiled and waved back. You may say, so what? Well, as I said at first, it may not seem like such a big deal, but suffer me for a bit here.

As we cycle our way through our cities and towns we are being watched by hundreds of people in cars. Maybe thousands. Some of these "cars" we will have encounters with. "Cyclists" don't necessarily like "cars". We call them evil, give them our general disdain. Heck, there's even a web site called Cars R Coffins. Kinda sinister sounding, eh?

With such an adversarial approach to car traffic, we shouldn't be surprised that some folks give it right back to cyclists. I mean, a little honey would catch a lot of flies, no? So, I take a bit of a different approach. I try to be as positive and accommodating as I can be as a cyclist. But really, does it matter at all that I am a cyclist? Maybe I am just practicing good citizenship. Maybe I'm practicing being a kind human being.

What I'm trying to get at here is that a good way to be seen as something worthy of respect as you cycle the city streets and urban landscape is to be kind. It might behoove us as human beings to treat others- in cars and trucks, and on motorcycles, and inside of other contraptions- as humans first. Just like I did when I caught that ladies eye and waved at her the other day.

I doubt she thought, "What a nice cyclist." No, rather I think she thought "What a nice guy."

I just happened to be on a bicycle.