The Darkness

After field hockey practice today, I decided to take my dog for a walk to enjoy the warm evening. I went home, picked her up, and drove to a nearby lake that I enjoy visiting. Even though she is a miniature, my dog loves to walk and has a surprising amount of endurance in her tiny legs. The path around the lake is two miles. She jogs along the whole way and still has enough energy to wrestle with my cat as soon as we get home. In addition to the energy expenditure, my dog particulary enjoys walks around the lake because there are so many people to get attention from and so many other dogs to greet.

My dog, unlike me, has no concept of time. This truth was evident again tonight when I found myself becoming increasingly uneasy as the skies became increasingly darker while my dog continued to bounce around without a care in the world. As dusk fell over the lake before we were even halfway through our walk, the crowds on the path started to diminish. I found my mind replaying years of Fox News stories of young women abducted, raped, and murdered. Maybe I've read too many of those stories, maybe my imagination is just too wild, or maybe it's a combination of the two, but I saw new headlines tonight: "Young woman disappears in park. Car found abadoned in parking lot." "Small dog floated to the top of a lake." "Woman's body surfaces solving a year-long mystery." I could also hear John repeating to reporters on national TV the conversation that we had just last night: "She said last night that she didn't feel safe walking by herself after dark because of the dangers. I don't know why she would be out here the very next night."

It's sad that I can't enjoy a walk by myself at dusk without any uneasiness. Maybe I am just buying into the mass hysteria that the media sells us at bulk rates. Even though I could tell myself that I'm being unreasonable and that the area where I live is safe, that doesn't mean that I would be wise to go out by myself after dark as a woman. It's the safe areas where people are always taken by surprise; its the safe areas where crime still makes the national news. And it's those national news stories that ring clearly enough in my head to make my paranoia seem legitimate in our world today.

As the news stories about my untimely demise were reeling through my mind, another thought entered my head--in a few weeks, this 7:30 light will be 6:30. Daylight savings time is a curse on a working woman who wants to exercise outside and has no exercise partner (or no pepper spray). Fortunately, I am a working woman in education, so once my coaching season ends this year, I will still have a few more hours of daylight. With a miniature dog, I'll need those extra hours if we're going to take any more walks by ourselves. She's not big enough to be intimidating to a predatory man. So for the safety of us both, I must keep us out of the darkness. Sorry news folks.

Posted by Kim at October 5, 2005 08:22 PM