if cops would smile and say hi...

...the city would be a better place. i stood near a cop on a motorcycle this evening on my walk home. he was inches from a guy on a bicycle, who was staring at him, possibly trying to lure the cop to look in his direction. i was doing the same thing. there was such a sense of hierarchy, of control, of restraint. if he had looked in our direction and smiled, or said hello, both of us--the cyclist and me--would have felt better about him and his people. what a lost opportunity.