daily walk

Today I was taking my (almost-)daily walk around the neighborhood -- looking for the white squirrel, as usual, and thinking about my day and my life. I passed a black man also walking on the sidewalk -- there are not a lot of African Americans in this neighborhood. I think, perhaps to make me feel more comfortable, he pulled out his cell phone and made a call before he got to me. I, for my part, did not cross the street at the place I usually do, because I didn't want him to think I was crossing the street to get away from him. We smiled and nodded at one another as we passed -- we didn't really say hello because he was in the midst of his phone conversation. I think we were both sensitive to one another's feelings and potential fears in an almost-reverse-kind of racism.... I passed an older white man jogging. He did not say hello to me -- not sure if he was out of breath or just shy or unfriendly. I did say hi to him....but got no response. Further on around the block, I passed Edwin & Scamper's house. Scamper is a lovely bassett hound that likes to be petted over the side of his fence when he sees passers-by. Edwin, I learned today, is the name of his owner, and he had put a sign up saying something to the effect of, "Instead of worrying about my dog, why don't you get your own?" I can only surmise that many people look for Scamper to pet when they walk by, and when he's not there, they must ask questions of Edwin....? I dunno. I didn't see Scamper today, but did see the sign. It made me both angry and sad. I'm between dogs right now (my 13-year-old died last year) and I enjoyed petting Scamper when I passed by. I look for him every day, but I don't stop and ask where he is.... I know the sign wasn't directed at me personally, but it still hurt my feelings. There's a lot of feeling going on out there in the larger world. Sometimes it's a tough place to navigate....