Walking Man

Every morning on my way to work, I pass a man walking down the road. He is always on the same road and is always wearing the same dark clothes, and a dark blue baseball cap. He is tall and thin. He does not walk very slowly or very quickly. He looks neither happy not unhappy to be walking down the road. He is not trudging along even though this walking were a tiresome chore.

The road where I see this man is a busy one – lots of traffic. I have never seen another walker. Every time I see him, I try to figure or imagine who he is and why he walks along this road every morning. I think that he must be walking to work. There are a number of businesses in the direction he walks and his clothes could be business casual in an office or a small factory along this road. He may live nearby, or he could be coming from a bus.

I find myself building a life for him, and an explanation for his presence. I imagine his family, his history, what sort of work he does. Explanations for why he walks in a place where people only drive. I form opinions about this man based on where and how he walks, what he wears.

I wonder what opinions he forms about me as I pass by.