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“No sir, I am not, but I do like to feed the birds at the park,” is what I should have said while still keeping my distance.

With longer days and warmer weather I have no excuse to not get back into the habit of running.  Today, I am proud to say, I went directly to the trails right after work where I happened to meet a man dressed in khaki shorts with a white undershirt and carrying binoculars.  I was listening to my Sansa and did not hear clearly as he spoke to me.  My habit of keeping only one ear piece in while jogging to better hear what or who is around me impeded the actual words he spoke.  Since he and I were traveling in opposite directions the distance between us eventually shortened enough to come within earshot.  I asked, “Excuse me?”

He repeated, “Are you a birder?”

All sorts of people jog, observe, wander, or do other business while in the park, but it struck me as a very odd question.  He was probably around 50, clean cut with glasses, but the white undershirt or wife-beater threw off his whole appearance.  It gave a disheveled quality to an otherwise put together image.  I came closer and eventually stopped as he continued to go on about a new bird he spotted across the bayou.  He handed the binoculars over, instructed me on how to focus the image, then directed me to the area where the bird was supposed to be.  Even though I am supposed to wear my glasses all the time, I rarely ever do.  The car is pretty much the only place I wear them, because seeing while driving is conducive to avoiding accidents.  See a small animal 50 yards away?  It was pretty much hopeless, even with his field glasses, to spot the bird.

As I was struggling to find the animal, I started becoming a bit uneasy.  There could be no bird at all or only an imaginary bird to serve as a plausible distraction.  With my vision blocked by binoculars I was unable to see the man, straight ahead or peripherally.  As he continued to talk I found the bird but was more than happy to simply describe it as “small, probably not a bird of prey” and hand back his gear.  The interaction ended with some more bird talk, a promise to look up the avian mystery in his bird book, and a thank you for my help.  Then he continued on with binoculars in tow.

I wanted to relay this story because it shows several conflicting emotions that I encounter when meeting people in certain settings.  I am too polite (read trusting), yet my experience as a crisis volunteer tells me etiquette needs to take a backseat in some circumstances, even if it means coming off as rude.  The man I met today was nice enough, but I should have made sure there were other people on the pathway before humoring him, or at least increased my distance from him while looking through the binoculars.  It would have given more of a cushion to run and better chance of escape.  On the other hand, it was a pleasant conversation minus the wary, sitting duck feeling.  No pun intended.