While I was out riding my bike, I noticed a large piece of brown cardboard bearing the logo of a cigarette manufacturer on a bus bench. Something instinctual inside me said, "Stop, look closer." Pieces of cardboard like that do not just place themselves neatly on top of sidewalk benches.

I turned the cardboard over. On the side that had been facing down, written in black marker, was the following message:

SINGLE FATHER
WORKING P/T PLEASE
WE ARE 13.00 SHORT
ROOM RENT PLEASE
ANYTHING HELPS
Thank You!

Obviously, someone had made it to hold so passing traffic could see, but now it had been abandoned. There's a story behind everything.

It's possible that the sign could have been a lie, created by someone hoping to make a few quick bucks off the sympathy of others. It is equally possible that whoever made the sign was being truthful. If so, I have to wonder if he got his $13, or whether he left the sign behind, empty handed, in defeat. Would I have given anything to him if he had been there when I passed?

I don't know how else to describe it except to say that it "felt" authentic. Beneath the piece cardboard on the bench lay an Employment Guide. I hate those fucking things. I used to try to use them when I was looking for a job, and they were absolutely worthless.

On a whim, I picked up the cardboard sign, fit as much of it as I could into my backpack, with the rest sticking out of the top. Then, I continued riding.

At the bottom of the hill off Sheridan, south of US-36, I abruptly stopped and laid my bike down in the grass next to the Park-N-Ride. What the hell am I going to do with this thing? Keep it as a souvenir? No, people need to see this. And not just the half-dozen folks who will read about it on my site when I post. The whole world needs to see it!

What was I going to do, stand on the sidewalk holding it above my head? I might have tried, except that then people would have thought that it was my sign, and I was the person claiming to need $13 to provide shelter for his kids, when of course I am not.

Lacking any proper tools or equipment, I simply wedged the sign into the ground next to the curb at the Park-N-Ride Entrance. It probably won't stay in place there for very long, but some cars driving in through the entrance might give it a passing glance, and wonder. I want them to wonder. Just as I wondered.

Before departing, I jotted the words down on a sticky note. Now I have copied them here, to be preserved in electronic form as long as my writings remain on a hard disk somewhere.

Is this my sentence? To spend my life day after day in quixotic pursuits, the benefits of which are dubious at best, even to me?

Well, as long as it keeps me going, I guess it's what I'll do.

The other thing that occurred to me is that I seriously need to find this mythical community of similarly minded activists who are focused on working together to find effective means to improve the life situation in our world. There is something to be said for strength in numbers. I have a few ideas on how to go about that. Now the only question is: Will I carry them out?

Another thing that this little episode did was to remind me how glad I am that I don't have kids right now. As it stands, I can do all sorts of crazy shit, risk getting myself arrested, plunge into willful poverty, or take off for the coast, and the only person I might be endangering is myself. Contemplating this brings me a great sensation of freedom.

Every day is a new adventure, no matter how small. Keeping this in mind, and recognizing that every cell in my heart tells me that I have been going in the right direction, I now contemplate how to proceed with the next phase of the plan.