Roadside Vignette

Yesterday, 2:48 p.m., corner of Franklin and Vine. Just off the Ben Franklin Bridge. Stopped at a red light. I look up in my rear view mirror and see a scruffy looking man approach the car behind me. His t-shirt is dirty, his camouflage pants are an odd length (on a woman they would be capri pants). His hair is mussed. I glance over at the door lock to make sure it is on. He taps on the window of the guy behind me. "Panhandler," I think. He stoops down and pulls a big plastic bag out from under the car, waves at the driver, and gets back in his own red truck. The bag had been blowing all over the bridge and road and people had been driving over it. When I hit it I thought how dangerous it could be if the bag flew up and got caught on my windshied. The scruffy guy is doing a good deed. "All that is gold does not glitter (Tolkien)." Why do I have to keep re-learning that?.