You Gotta Have.....

About a week ago I was walking home from work. As I walked down Rideau street in Ottawa I came upon a red light at King Edward. If you are unfamiliar with Ottawa, King Edward leads to one of the bridges to Quebec. It is one of the faster moving streets over the river, as such it it very busy at rush hour. There are a lot of streets on my walk home where you can cross against the light without any peril, this is not one of those streets.

So, as I wait for the light there is a guy crossing against the light. He's making a mess, causing cars to suddenly stop and flipping anyone the bird who gets too close to him. When he got to the curb he looks at the small group waiting for the light to change and yells out, "You gotta have balls!"

The next morning as I was walking to work I see the same guy, much more subdued, sitting on a short concrete wall by the Metro on Rideau, holding out an empty coffee cup, looking for change.

Now I realize this sequence is probably played out several times a week in many urban environments. The guy was obviously high as he crossed against the light. It didn't take balls it took drugs. I find it unfortunate that he is so misguided. He probably has some talent but for whatever reason has degraded to begging on the street to feed his habit.

This is not an anti-drug rant. This is a know your limits rant. It is easy for the good times to overtake reality and you end up somewhere you don't want to be. We all need to escape and have fun. Some people chose to alter their mind for a while. It's important to understand that your altered state should be the exception. We all have responsibilities, we need to maintain some balance in our lives. This one one example where the priorities may have got out of balance.

It's easy to laugh at the guy the next morning but maybe we need to do a better job at helping people maintain the proper balance in their lives.