Tough One

As I may have explained before, I'm turning into an old man decades before I should. If I had a lawn I'd yell at kids to keep off it. If I owned suspenders I'd wear them and a belt, just for insurance against my pants falling down. If I had dentures I'd pop them out of my mouth for comic effect. You get the idea.
   Today I saw something that immediately got the old man in me riled up, but at the same time got the caring, understanding liberal in me going. It was an odd conflict, sitting there at the stoplight by PCC. Good thing I had the red, otherwise I might have been paralyzed into inaction.
   I saw a wheelchair athlete practicing. He was obviously training for some event, he had an escort on a bicycle beside him - hard to see a wheelchair that's below the level of most car doors - and he was sprinting down Del Mar at a pretty good clip.
   The old man in me immediately railed against this, he was holding up traffic, and it wasn't the safest exercise in the world, even with a bicycle escort. It's the same reaction I have when I see a phalanx of bicyclists hogging a lane of traffic. Get the f*ck out of my way...
   But then, the considerate, liberal side of me spoke up. Why shouldn't this guy be on the city streets? Like I said, bicyclists do it all the time, why can't he? It's a worst a momentary inconvenience to the people behind him, and he's got as much right to hold up traffic as those bastards in stretch bike shorts do. Besides, where else would he possibly have to train? A quarter-mile track at a high school? Live and let live.
   You can see my dilemma. On the one hand I want to shake my fist and mutter under my breath, but on the other hand I would want someone to cut me some slack if that were me in a wheelchair. I feel like I might explode...