Other People's Crap

It was a 12-miler today. Actually, it was an 8-miler, but I likely cannot run tomorrow because of a 16 hour work day in store, and so I did 4 of tomorrow's miles today, and I will do the other 4 on Friday.

Again, I worked from 5 a.m. until 10 a.m., which means I did not find the path until about 11, when the heat began to emerge (Forgive me, Jewish Mother).

When the path and I met, I walked a few feet only to discover a huge pile of dog crap right in the middle of the path. My first thought was, "why in the world would someone leave that right in the middle of the path?" Then I realized that this huge pile of crap was one big metaphor message for my day.

I love metaphors because I see them often, and usually when other people just see a pile of crap.

People leave their crap behind all of the time. It is rare when someone leaves such a huge, smelly pile of crap on the path, which means to me that whomever left that gift had something to say to me and to all of the others on the path.

The crap-leaver perhaps wanted us to feel his anger. Or perhaps she wanted us to know that she did not have to pick up crap if she did not want to. He maybe was a conventional man who decided to live on the edge by leaving the crap when no one was looking--his only chance for adrenaline. Or maybe she secretly hoped to get caught leaving the crap on the path. We have to surmise that the crap-leaver was not running real fast because it had to have been a huge dog and I am certain the movement took some time.

All I know is I made sure not to step in the crap. I passed it 4 times, back and forth. No way I was going to clean up someone else's crap. I had to see it though, and experience another's crap in a vicarious manner.

It is important not to let other people's crap get onto you, because it will stick with you for the rest of the day, and perhaps even longer. I returned to work after the run and worked later than usual, ever-thankful that I did not step into that crap.

The run was enlightening, again.