After a delightful night out with friends last night, I went to hop on my bike and head home, and I had an interesting experience. I was going to write a Facebook post about it, but as I biked home and thought about it some more, I realized that it warranted a longer response. I’ve been following the #yesallwomen conversation online, and I’ve read some really great articles and have had some really great conversations with friends about it. I’ve reflected on incidents in my life that that echo what it’s all about, and then tonight’s incident occurred.
Here’s the deal. After saying goodbye to my friends, I walked off alone to retrieve my bike and head home. We had been out in the Gayborhood in Philly, in which I have never felt uncomfortable or unsafe. Ever. I’m sure that bad things can happen to people there, as they can anywhere in a city (or anywhere, really), but it’s a lovely part of Philly, and it’s well-lit, and there are almost always people around. I mention this to set the stage.
As I approached my bike, I noticed a man walking by himself 10 or so yards in front of me. I noticed him pick a flower from a bush as he passed it (Which seemed slightly bizarre, but who knows? Maybe he digs flowers.) and as I arrived at my bike, he noticed that I was behind him and stopped about 5 yards away. He said that he was going to make sure that I was okay, and then he made some joke about me being scared of him. (Which I wasn’t, but when someone makes a joke about that, it does give you pause.)