I had an encounter today that so richly illustrated how easily we can be misled by what we see. I was rushing off to pick up my son from soccer camp, and as I approached the stop light I saw a young, black boy, who was in his late teens. In light of recent events I couldn't help but feel a surge of motherliness as my car pulled up alongside his parked car. He was sitting on the hood looking at a big beautiful dog. The dog was standing next to the car with it's paws on the hood. As I approached I thought " awww, how sweet are this boy and his dog, playing!" Then, I looked again and everything shifted. I saw the boy's rather frantic expression, that the dog was a big pit bull, and that there was another boy further up the street, --way further up the street, gesturing and laughing. Now the momma in me really kicked in. This boy needs rescuing, I thought. I stopped, rolled the window down, and asked him if the dog had cornered him. He slid off the hood with a sheepish grin, and said yes, and that he realized it didn't bite and that he was 'just being superstitious'. ( In the time it took me to brake and roll down the window, the dog somehow lost interest and wandered off.) With that he hurried off to catch up with his friend and I drove on to pick up my son.
A kind of comical misunderstanding all around. No harm, no foul.
My point is this. We both reacted to something we thought we saw; I, to "heartwarming scene", the boy, a "vicious dog". To me there is such a parallel between this little vignette and what happened in Sanford, Fla. The difference is, today, the boy and I took a closer look at the situation, and questioned our assumptions.
