Urban Heroes

Chicago Reader letter-to-the-editor

Urban Heroes

By George Christensen

[Re: Neighborhood News, August 14]

What's all this fuss about taming bicycle messengers? True they may seem reckless at times and give a fright or two, but rather than reviling them, they ought to be celebrated. They may well be the hardest working and most courageous workers in the city. For eight hours or more a day they ride their bikes at all-out speeds in traffic that few would dare. They have to be fearless as well as superbly conditioned. They have a spirit that ought to be admired. It is the same spirit that brought our forefathers to America and pushed the frontier from east to west.

So what if they don't always observe red lights or stop signs. Do any bicyclists? Or pedestrians for that matter? At least messengers have cause. They are trying to deliver a document that someone needs right away as fast as they can. Isn't it refreshing to witness someone doing their job to the best of their ability? If anything they should be encouraged and applauded rather than restrained. That they startle an occasional pedestrian may say more about the alertness of the pedestrian than a messenger's irresponsibility. As the messenger quoted in Ben Joravsky's piece said, messengers are highly skilled at what they do and aren't out to scare anyone. Let them be.