Dewey-Eyed Moment I

A Dewey-eyed moment I:

In Fremont, land of the car-and-driver,
I saw a man and a dog standing on a corner in the distance.
I wondered why they were there, not moving.

As I came closer, I saw that the man was blind, and the dog was a guide dog. I've seen these setups in the city, so I wasn't surprised, but they stood still as I passed on the other side of the street.

I was down the street and past them, when I saw that the man pointed which way to go, in a general direction for the dog. The dog's job is to keep the man safe, and walking in a safe place, which was hard, because they were trying to cross a T-intersection with cutouts for people making right turns.

The dog was confused because the man was pointing diagonally across the intersection. I wanted to go back and help, but I was pretty far already. (okay, those of you who want to call me a heel, go ahead now). I watched by looking back as I walked (I was late to work already, and was supposed to be rushing) and saw the dog and man stumble over the cutout islands in the intersection to get to the safety of the curb. There were so many cars that realized what I did, and stopped, and didn't honk, and waited on the otherwise fairly wide-open speed-friendly spot.

I was relieved when the man and dog finally made it, but felt really bad that I didn't do anything about it. I half-figured that the dog did his job, and the others around did theirs too, and maybe I shouldn't feel so bad for letting the blind guy live his life, but also that there are alot of places where we take sight and our senses for granted, when we shouldn't.

JN


(Thanks for picking up the phone at 1050 everytime its the blind guy with the 209 number calling for the scores).