A Missed Opportunity

Picture taking today was a bit constrained by the darkness in which my pedestrianism was practiced.  I did run across a sign that piqued my interest.  I have never seen anything quite like this, and I wonder what sort of testing warrants this sort of warning.

Unusual Signage in Spanish Fort, AL

This post would be much shorter if, after seeing this sign, I hadn't made an error that cost me a missed opportunity later in the walk along the Eastern Shore Trail through Daphne, AL.

Some background is probably in order to set the stage for a hasty and unthoughtful mistake that cost me an opportunity to practice some of the philosophy that got me out on the trail in the first place.  One of my fanciful imaginings before actually setting out on the practice of pedestrianism was that walking would afford me the opportunity to meet and interact with interesting people.  Now while this is not an untrue aspect of the walking completed to date, the circumstances for that interaction have not manifested themselves in accordance with my projections.

My imagination pictured walking a trail or a road and coming upon a like minded individual following a similar path to mine.  One of us would slow to the pace or speed up to the pace of the other and we'd exchange stories of the road and life...experiences seen in the and hoped for during our future travels.  After over a year of walking every day, the truth of the matter is that this has only happened to me once if you discount the walking and talking I've done with Rory. The one time that the interchange I imagined was going to happen was in downtown Mobile, just across the river from the encounter today, and I managed to turn a homeless man's attempt (successful in the end by the way) at panhandling into about a ten minute conversation about shipyards, beer, drugs, a Salvation Army sleeping back, work in a shipyard as a painter, the loss of automobile transportation, and what it was like living out on the street. I walked away from that exchange a little bit melancholy, but it was certainly not a boring engagement.

After over 4500 miles covered, that exchange is the one example where a version of my "meeting new people" as part of my walking occurred.  I've exchanged relatively hasty greetings, brief discussions on weather, and hours and hours of talking to Rory but given our history I'm not counting those.

Today, I was presented with another opportunity to make that human connection that I had created out of thin air in my mind and if my experience is indicative is truly a rare occurrence.  I blew it big time.  

I was walking north after completing the outbound leg of my evening ambulation when three youths wearing ties and headed south met me along the path.  Given the level of darkness, the age of the fellows involved, and the fact that there were three of them (although two is more common), I pegged them as Jehovah's Witnesses. Although I quickened my pace a little, I was not disappointed in my prediction when the lead lad said to me, "Excuse me sir, I was wondering if we could share our message with you?"  I brushed them aside with a wave of my left hand and said, "Thanks. I'm good." I continued my clip north, and I suspect that I'll never see them again.

Now there are a number of things wrong about how I handled that situation and a number of excuses that I could offer.  The bottom line up front is that I blew and opportunity, a rare one at that, to make good on one of the original visions that I had of this endeavor.  I sold my dream short because at the time I wasn't willing to listen.  Someone took it upon themselves to reach out to me and establish contact, and I blew them off for no reason at all.

I can't even say that I've heard the message that they were trying to bring me before.  Though a few of my close friends in high school were Mormons and I've heard snippets of their doctrine before, I've never taken the time to listen to their message. When they've come to my door, I've told them to fuck off.  I've said it a bit more politely than that of course, but that was the message.  It was the same message my dismissive wave and arrogant statement of being good with the world and not in need of hearing their message this evening conveyed. I've never given them the opportunity to share their missionary message, so it is just not possible to know that I'm good in the absence of facts.

On further reflection, I realize that a more appropriate response would have been to invite them to join me and share whatever they liked.  I suspect they would have wheeled about and come with me given the fact that they probably face the type of dismissive arrogance that I demonstrated time after time as they work to practice their own spiritual journey. I'd stumbled across that fellow traveller that I had imagined, some young men on the own quest for spiritual discovery, and I blew them off because on the surface their journey was not the same one I am undertaking.

I don't know what would have come out of that interaction, but it was an opportunity that the universe delivered on a silver platter to the middle of the trail I was walking and I went out of my way to exercise my will to ignore it.  

I won't say that it won't happen again, but I am committed to not making that exact same mistake again.  It's not in keeping with what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm also not so awash in connectedness that I can't afford to spend a little time with a fellow human who has the courage to reach out with an offer of brotherhood, however brief it might have been. If I'm offered another opportunity to hear the message of a Jehovah's Witness, I'm going to listen to it.  Then I'll at least be able to make a determination based on some facts.

There is a relatively long poem titled "The Laws of the Navy" written by CAPT Hopewood, RN, and I recommend it for consideration because it is excellent life advice.  I think this stanza has some application in this situation.

Saith the wise, "How may I know their purpose?"
Then acts without wherefore or why.
Stays the fool but one moment to question,
And the chance of his life passeth by