Monday, April 21, 2014

So I was just walking Eco when a man with a cane stopped to pet her and tell me how nice she was. He started to tell me how he had a Catahoula and how he learned to train dogs when he was in the military. I then learned about his African Grey Parrot and two other birds that he has. I also learned about his 14 years in Marines and the time he spent fighting Escobar's men in Colombia; about how he was writing a book but he was doing it on line and then the CIA stopped him and put him on a 'no fly' list; he ended up giving up his US citizenship in trade so they would leave him alone and now he writes the book - he's been writing it for 2 years but has only 78 pages due to panic attacks and post traumatic stress disorder. He's 52 and all his family has been in the military all the way to the US Civil War (fighting for the North of course). He's from Brooklyn (although had no accent at all) originally and how he came to my little community outside of Vancouver is, apparently, a long story.His son is currently in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Jp says I should just walk away from people like this. Judging by all that I know he figured I stood and listened for about 15 minutes (which was true). I find it hard to be rude to people even if they are strangers and I politely wait for an exit opportunity. Does this ever happen to you? How long do you stand and listen?  Is it my fault Eco's so dang cute that everyone wants to pet her?

2 comments:

Sultan said...

Growing up in Mew York City, my parents rulewas, "Never talk to anyone you don't know, EVER!" It is possible that NYC was not a very friendly place in those days.

Anonymous said...

It is a bit odd that someone who has had to give up his citizenship and who should therefore be very careful with whom he talks, would tell a total stranger this much. OTOH, can nobody make any conversations with anybody at all? I would be a bit torn between aw give the poor bloke a chance or should he take a psychiatric test? yet, people in their loneliness do sometimes just want an excuse to have a real conversation with somebody.
Anybody has an opinion on this? Not to let TV crime shows interfere with your decision.