Pedestrian Point of View

I decided to walk instead of drive to the drugstore.  What I had to pick up wasn't heavy, and I could count it as steps in my exercise plan.  
It's not a long walk, only about 20 minutes each way and there is a nice, wide side walk that frames a five lane street.  
On the way back, I was walking the same direction as the traffic, so I couldn't see what was coming.  I became aware of how fast the cars moved, how loud the traffic was, and how a narrow strip of grass was all that separated me from several tons of moving metal.  This was especially true when a truck passed,  waifing mechanical wind exhaust my way.  

A horn  blared and I jumped. 

I felt very small, insignficant  and vulnerable. 
It made me wonder if any of the drivers had  ever walked along the sidewalk -- or  even noticed that someone was walking there. Turning my gaze away from the street,  I noticed a small space of undeveloped land that still is a home for wild plants (and probably some animals, though I didn't see any). 

Perhaps that is a bit like life.  We can drive swiftly past so much of nature, so much of humanity, while fixed on our lanes of pursuit.  

​Or we can expand our point of view and for a short while, become pedestrians.  

And the same with writing -- if you want a character to have an epiphany, or an unlikely change of view -- perhaps they need to be a "pedestrian" for a scene or two. 

Thanks for reading!  If you have comments, please post them. 

​Nancy