Handout

I like to hold my hand up to stop traffic when I cross a busy street. I saw Mickey Rourke do it in a movie once and I thought it was cool. My wife thinks it’s arrogant – I usually respond to her with something like, “Well, we got across the street and they didn’t hit us, did they honey?” It’s not like I’m yelling at the cars or anything. I don’t do that. Mickey Rourke doesn’t do that…

In the past year or two, I’ve seen two other guys hold up their hands to stop traffic when crossing the street. So I had some confirmation, initially. One was in New York City. Using the hand in the Big Apple is the ultimate traffic stoppage. That’s where Mickey did it in the movie. The other was closer to home. Upon further observation however, it appeared that both of the guys I observed were homeless (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and after holding up their hand, they did indeed yell at the car.

I’m not sure I will keep up this practice when everyone switches to self-driving cars. I’m gonna at least wait ‘til Mickey does it in a movie…