Cars are a fourth wall. I’ve come to realize this. The problem is that they’re not really very wall like. What with the windows. I’m the guy sitting at the bus stop watching you pick your nose and talk on your cell phone. Feel free to wave.
But you won’t wave, because you respect the wall. You look away so as not to acknowledge the people outside your car. Straight ahead. Homeless, bus riders, helpless child getting raped by maurading dogs. You don’t see it. None of it.
Not that I’m better than you. I ignore the walkers. And the runners. Pretend they’re not there. We bus stop sitters. We don’t interact. We start ahead at you. Picking your nose. For the love of pete, stop it.
But when I’m a runner, I ignore the riders, too. I say hello to the walkers. And the runners. But I ignore the riders. Once they’re on that bench at the bus stop they’re invisible. I’m trying to change, but those are the rules. We need our fourth wall. We can only interact with people in our activity group. Driver. Rider. Runner.