Thoughts on personal space and public spaces
Human beings are complicated creatures. They contain multitudes! They can be eminently reasonable, and they can be wildly, infernally unreasonable. It’s a conundrum for the ages.
Case in point: When you ask an off-leasher to please leash their dog, they often have a look of total surprise and confusion in their eyes, as if never once has this option occurred to them. They can be literally standing anywhere, from under a “No dogs” sign in a nature preserve to a hospital labor & delivery ward, and still have this reaction. Leashes? Never heard of ‘em! How preposterous! Don’t you know everyone on planet Earth unanimously and wholeheartedly loves my dOgGo?!
Yet when I’m telling even a small part of this story, people I’m talking to tend to respond with words of recognition and empathy, and often with their own dog attack story. I think there’s a silent majority (including many wonderful dog owners) whose daily lives have been impacted by the modern wave of crummy dog owners, and they’re rightfully scared to speak up due to the stigma around, well, questioning literally ANYTHING about dogs. And the stigma is real, y’all. Doesn’t matter if you’re asking someone to pick up after their dog or if you’re a dog attack victim yourself—there’s an immediate amygdala response from so many people when you dare to ask for basic common decency. If all you suffer is ostracism for expressing such a forbidden opinion, you’re one of the lucky ones.
But this is exactly why it’s important to speak up. The relief that washes over the faces of people when they realize they can talk freely to me makes it all worth it. They feel seen, and they feel safe to speak to their own struggles and horrors.
Gather ‘round kids, I’m going to take you on a journey. A journey about independence and autonomy, about personal space and public spaces. About what civic participation looks like in an era full of splashy pet projects but bereft of efficiency and accountability. About me engaging in the time-honored human tradition of fumbling around and learning some things, and then fumbling around some more. About entitlement and outrage, and about just trying to walk down the street.
Buckle in, it’s longread time.
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