Draw the Line

Just came back from the doggy walk. It is hot out there. The thermometer on our front porch says that it's already 20C. I could feel the heat. It was almost tangible, like I was carrying something on my back. When we got back home, the poor dog's tongue was almost dragging on the ground.

It's his own fault, really. He's in charge when we're on the walk. I figure that it's his one moment of freedom (sort of), except that he's dragging this large thing at the other end of the leash. I can safely say that I'm not as enthusiastic about the walk as he is.

The route changes every day. We go wherever his nose takes us. Today, we started by cutting through the park that's next door to the school next door. We had walked part way up the street when I saw a beat-up van parked in the middle of the street, directly between two cars parks on either side, blocking any traffic that might come along this early in the morning. I realized that the van had stopped to talk to someone on the street. This person had walked out to one of the yards on the far side of the street, and was talking to the van's driver. Because the pedestrian was on the far side of the van, I couldn't see anything but his head. I was just thinking about how inconsiderate this was, when the van pulled away and the pedestrian turned to walk back to his house.

I envy people who are so self-confident that they can parade around in public nearly naked. Even if I didn't have the man-boobs, there is no way that you would see me without a shirt off, unless I was swimming. (You can thank me for this later.) I'm just not a shirt-off kind of guy. But the pedestrian was. There was not a shy bone in his scrawny body. He walked back up his driveway, smoking purposefully, with his greasy hair slicked back and his Spongebob boxers smirking at me. I've never liked Spongebob.

Later on the walk, after we had taken the grand tour of the neighbourhood, we were walking (thank god) down the long hill back to our house. This is when I really noticed the heat, because my back was to the still-rising sun. I was just thinking about how hot I was and noticing how much Sunny's tongue was dragging, when I saw a jogger coming towards us. He was wearing a black fleece jacket zipped up to his chin and a toque.

What?

Why would anyone be wearing that on an already too-hot day? As he gaspingly passed, I purposefully said "good morning" loudly to him. He choked out a "hi". He looked like he was struggling, and this awoke the snotty voice in my head that always starts yapping whenever I hear of someone who has found themselves in a crisis situation after skiing out of bounds, hiking off the trail, or jumping somewhere unwisely. Today, this voice was talking to the jogger. It said "buddy, you're on your own if you collapse". It's called Darwinism, and although it's a bitch, it certainly helps to sort things out.

Edited to add: I don't want to be misunderstood. If someone's in trouble, I'll certainly help. But when people are stubbornly, persistently being stupid (ie. jogging in a black fleece jacket zipped up to the chin), then I don't feel the need to step in and save them from themselves. It's better to just let natural selection do the sorting.