The following can be said to be a continuation of the theme established in this post in January and should/could be read in conjunction with it (the previous post):
So...the other day I was walking home with some food/snacks and I took a route I normally wouldn't. There are two gates from which you can approach my building. One gate means you have to go through a small road, which is usually unlit at night and has nothing or no one in its vicinity. I don't use this road to go home. I usually use it when leaving to go out somewhere.
The route I'd usually use leads through the society and is more "safe".
Anyway, this was evening time...around 6...
As I'd left to get the food, I'd seen some kids in a field/ground near my house, playing...and given my current obsession with Frisbee and wanting to spread the virus, I went to the ground's gate to see if the kids were of an age to be taught Ultimate. They were not...and I made my way home. This ground/field is on the "abandoned road" and probably the only time that it sees life is when these kids come in the evening to play. So, after passing from the ground, I was walking along and became aware of a shuffling sound of feet behind me...
All of a sudden, senses on alert...my walking became a little zig-zagged...and he seemed to follow me. Eventually, I did end up on the other side of the street, as I approached the gate to my building, and he did not follow me. So, I happened to (discreetly) turn and see who it was...
It was an old man of about sixty...minding his own business. Poor fellow. Good thing he never knew what went through my head...or he'd have felt bad/offended.
It got me thinking though...
Every single day, you walk through a sea of people, any one of which could be a potential deranged maniac (no...not melodramatic here, just real) and you don't care or pay much attention there. In fact, there are times when people are so deaf and blind to things happening around them on a busy road that they get run over (literally) and here I was...alone, during daylight, suspecting a poor old man of being someone he was not.
Is it just me? Or does everyone get hyper alert when one is in a potentially "threatening/dangerous" situation (the lonely road)?
Evolution? Or Paranoia?
Nature? Or Nurture?
You tell me...
So...the other day I was walking home with some food/snacks and I took a route I normally wouldn't. There are two gates from which you can approach my building. One gate means you have to go through a small road, which is usually unlit at night and has nothing or no one in its vicinity. I don't use this road to go home. I usually use it when leaving to go out somewhere.
The route I'd usually use leads through the society and is more "safe".
Anyway, this was evening time...around 6...
As I'd left to get the food, I'd seen some kids in a field/ground near my house, playing...and given my current obsession with Frisbee and wanting to spread the virus, I went to the ground's gate to see if the kids were of an age to be taught Ultimate. They were not...and I made my way home. This ground/field is on the "abandoned road" and probably the only time that it sees life is when these kids come in the evening to play. So, after passing from the ground, I was walking along and became aware of a shuffling sound of feet behind me...
All of a sudden, senses on alert...my walking became a little zig-zagged...and he seemed to follow me. Eventually, I did end up on the other side of the street, as I approached the gate to my building, and he did not follow me. So, I happened to (discreetly) turn and see who it was...
It was an old man of about sixty...minding his own business. Poor fellow. Good thing he never knew what went through my head...or he'd have felt bad/offended.
It got me thinking though...
Every single day, you walk through a sea of people, any one of which could be a potential deranged maniac (no...not melodramatic here, just real) and you don't care or pay much attention there. In fact, there are times when people are so deaf and blind to things happening around them on a busy road that they get run over (literally) and here I was...alone, during daylight, suspecting a poor old man of being someone he was not.
Is it just me? Or does everyone get hyper alert when one is in a potentially "threatening/dangerous" situation (the lonely road)?
Evolution? Or Paranoia?
Nature? Or Nurture?
You tell me...
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