Spending most of my time in disability circles sometimes has its disadvantages. The crew that I hang with are onboard when it comes to disability issues so naturally I think that this is somehow a reflection of where the rest of the world is. That is why the occasional eye opener comes in handy.

My most recent eye opener went down a few days ago. Not having a full dose of holiday shopping I decided to spend what little post holiday money I had on some books for no one but me. Normally I would order books online but needing an outing I decided to visit a brick-and-mortar operation. It’s one of the big stores located in a shopping plaza on the local miracle mile.

The roads are empty, the stores are empty, and the parking lot is almost empty. Except for a guy who has just parked his really neat looking and brand spanking new jet black Nissan 350Z sideways across three parking spots. Of course, all three spots are handicapped parking.

So I catch up with the fellow and very politely say “Excuse me sir, but I think you parked your very cool looking car in a handicapped parking spot.” As always I anticipated the usual responses- “I didn’t know”, “I wasn’t planning to be long”, “I didn’t see the sign”, “I used to be disabled but was miraculously cured a second ago”… But this guy really threw me a curve. In one swift motion he reaches into his pocket, whips out a small leather holder, and is now standing there with a police badge dangling down from his right hand and these words spewing from his smiling face. “Maybe you think I should arrest myself?”

I can surely think of some worse punishments than that but I could tell from the smile and the provocative way in which he wiggled the badge that this was an attempt at getting me to be the bad guy. No thanks I thought to myself and instead said, “I’ve seen plenty of those things before and it only proves that you should know better.” Upon which this minion of the law and keeper of the civil peace packs up his badge, strolls to his car while muttering “I don’t need this crap”, and moves the cool looking 350Z to a location of less visual prominence.

In retrospect I rather enjoyed all of this. It served to remind me that all is not yet well in the larger world and that there is still plenty of work to be done at all levels.