Thursday, 4/16

I understand why I got the evil eye. I don't agree with it, but I understand it.

When I finished running yesterday I did something I do while running. In fact, it's something almost all runners do while out running. I didn't even think twice about it; after all, like I said, it's a natural part of running. But these days, nothing's “natural” any more, so I guess I can understand why the person walking across the street from me glared like I was the most evil person in the world.

And all I did was spit.

Like I said, I do it all the time. All runners do it all the time. And in my defense, it's also the start of hay fever season, which means that there's little extra out there to, you know, spit. In the 30 or so years I've been running I've never given it a second thought, nor have I been given the evil eye by someone who saw me do it.

But like I said, these aren't normal times.

I understand why I got the evil eye. Admittedly, I hadn't given the practice a second thought. Like I said, it's natural for runners. But I can also understand why the person across the street looked at me like I was the devil incarnate. I was spitting out germs. I was spitting them out far away from the person across the street and into one of the many snowbanks with which we've now been graced, but I was spitting out germs nonetheless.

These days, that's not a good thing.

I don't know that I can totally avoid spitting while running during this whole crisis, especially with, like I said, hay fever season upon us. And I really don't think that my spitting into a snowbank is going to cause anyone else to get sick. But we're in strange times these days. And if my not spitting makes someone a little more comfortable as they're walking down the street, then it's the least I can do.

****

Speaking of snowbanks, think these people might now think twice about having left their cars out on the street over the weekend?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)