Never Enough Morning Homeless Nudity Department

The traffic on I-520 running south of the University of Washington is usually a little busy, with commuters from all points of Seattle converging on one of the main highways running into Bellevue, where a lot of banks and other financial institutions keep their offices. The drivers were busy focusing on the road, jockeying for position if only so they can get to their offices a few seconds earlier. The buses were filled with others who were lost in their MP3 players' output, or in the book or newspaper they brought with them, or otherwise simply trying to avoid any contact with their fellow travelers.

Therefore, I was the only one who noticed, as we drove past the lakeshore park just outside the 520 bridge, the naked man stretching at the edge of the lake.

I presume he was homeless, or else eccentric; he seemed to be fit of limb and to be middle-aged at best, with a pot-belly and dark curly hair. Nor did he seem particularly unkempt. But there he was, stretching and looking outwards at the commuters too busy to see him. With the fullness of the rising sun upon him, it was actually kinda glorious. It also seemed, in a sense, an act of defiance against those who had woken up two hours before, rushing about and forcing down caffeine so they can make it to their daily soul-crushing routine. It made me smile--it was nearly magical.

How many people secretly wish they had that much freedom, but lack the courage to face life without the "necessities" that society insists we depend upon!