My dictionary defines antisocial as "antagonistic or hostile toward others," or as behavior that is “opposed to the social system.”That first definition is loosely applicable to what I encountered while walking my dog this week, but it is the second one that suits my situation to a T.
Let me explain.
We had unusually warm weather and very heavy rains here in central Maine earlier this week. As a result, much of the snow and most of the ice has melted, making sidewalks passable once again without fear of falling.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that our thaw has exposed mounds of dog poop on city sidewalks throughout the neighborhood. These deposits were there all along, of course, but they had been buried in the snow and encased in the ice.
This is where that definition of an antisocial person as someone who is “opposed to the social system” comes into play.
One seemingly small facet of the social system is the entirely reasonable expectation that public sidewalks will not be littered with dog poop. The task of assuring this does not fall to the city, or to the dogs who walk its streets. It is the job of dog owners who, in many cases, obviously refuse to pick up after their pups.
Perhaps these folks are nice enough people who are so caught up in the daily grind that they have no idea they are being antisocial when they leave Rover's calling card behind.
Or maybe the world is so chock full of sociopaths that piles of uncollected poop are simply one manifestation of their illness.
Imagine if you could point your iPhone at an offending pile, identify the pooper by his or her DNA, cross-reference that info with a list of local dog owners and miraculously transport the deposit to the appropriate owner's living room.
Is there an app for that?
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