In searching for similar subjects in the 'Cat, I put 'wisdom' in the filter and set it to 'All'. Check it out - there are some GREAT threads there, some of them hilarous, all of them worth the readin'.

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In usual end-of-year ruminations I got to wondering what is different on this day from what it was on this day a year ago, what have I learned in the course of this year? If I have learned nothing it's been a badly wasted 365 days. I found several things, one of which is a life enhancer for me.

1) I have become less fearful in significant ways. The downtown area of Juneau, typified by a multiplicity of bars and attendant ills and incidents has always in these 20 years set my nerves on edge. People of all ages, some with bagged bottles in hand, others visibly drunk, most either ominously silent or on the other hand raucously obscene, clustered in doorways or on street corners is how I perceived them and I never walked alone among them.

(There is a shelter for homeless people on this street also and we have our share of panhandlers. It is legal by city ordinance as long as the interchange is cordial and respectful and no pressure is applied.)

In May of this year I moved to an apartment building that fronts onto an intersection in the heart of ubiquitous bars, and thus began my lesson.

I walk my little dog three times a day up and down these streets, in good weather and bad, in the light of long summer days and in the winter's dark. And I discovered that these are just people like anyone else - duh! - and many of them have interesting stories and insights. Further, they are protective of me and of my dog. In a strange kind of way I am safer today.

I do carry my walking stick and I do stay aware of my surroundings especially when I cut through back alleys and I don't make contact with the obviously disturbed. I can report that I have not felt a moment's anxiety on these walks.

Isn't that marvelous!