Dear Neighborhood Watch guy

[RachelC44]

Dear Neighborhood Watch guy living on Holly Place, between Holly and Willow streets,

I’m sorry I walked by your precious car tonight, and you thought that moving slowly made me a look like suspicious character. I get that walking down the street might look like “prowling” to somebody who reacts aggressively to strangers without forethought, but I was actually heading directly home from an evening out and wasn’t looking for an altercation.

And really the crutches should have been a dead giveaway.

No seriously, I’ve been off my feet for six weeks and this is the furthest I’ve gone since having having tendon transplant surgery in November. I mean seriously, who tries to break into a car with a pair of crutches?

It’s too bad I couldn’t be the target of your paranoid hero fantasy, but real life doesn’t work the way it does in movies. I sympathize with victims of vehicular burglaries, having been one myself, but just because you get a boner from trying to dominate people doesn’t mean you should. Is it too much to ask to walk home in my own neighborhood before 9:00 pm without suffering verbal abuse?

I’m sorry your football team lost today, but seriously pal, you need get a grip. People with emotional control issues like you are part of the problem, not the solution.

I think you owe someone an apology.

Sincerely,
a neighbor

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[miws]

Wow, sorry you had to deal with that, Rachel.

I would think that a woman on crutches would be one of the least suspicious related to car prowling.

I’m a middle-aged guy with COPD among a few other chronic issues, that walks with a cane, so yeah, moving along slowly, and even taking occasional rest breaks, especially up hills, on the flat while carrying heavy bags or even on the flat carrying nothing on an especially bad breathing day, and especially if I’ve been instinctively walking at a quick pace like I used to in healthier days. And, sometimes I’m wearing a backpack. So sometimes I wonder if I might appear suspicious. Then again, the routes I generally walk I have been doing so somewhat regularly for the past 3+ years, so hopefully I’m a familiar fixture. Plus, between huffs and puffs, I try to give a quick “Hi!” and eye contact to all I encounter.

Another concern is with the huffing and puffing, and my other attributes, I worry about the “creep” factor. More than once I’ve ended up following a woman, and/or kids, just because we happen to be going the same way. Whenever they get to a corner, and I plan on continuing straight, I’m always thinking “please turn the corner or cross the street!” ;-)

Mike

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[RachelC44]

Thanks Mike for understanding. I was pretty upset last night and it was good to get it off my chest. I’m sure this guy thought he was being helpful to his neighbors, but people should think twice before assuming the worst in others and certainly think twice before yelling at strangers. He was far off, I didn’t even see him, so my guess is he didn’t get a good look at me or he would have seen what a silly accusation it was.

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[miws]

Yeah, and I agree. All they need to do is say “Hi” so that if the person is an unsavory character, they will know that someone is aware of their presence. If nothing else, the “neighborhood watch”, may get a friendly “Hi” back!

Oh, and on my walk down to Target this morning, I realized another thing that might make me “look suspicious”; the dreaded hoodie! *Dun Dun DUNNNNN!* ;-)

Mike

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