Campus at Midnight

Watching cars roll in and out of campus on a Friday night is fairly entertaining.  I watch from the third floor day (study) room in Caldwell Hall and see the same white car drive by 4 or 5 times.  Either an under cover cop or someone bored driving around.  Seeing late-nighters walking around. A guy riding a bike with someone holding on to the back while on rollerblades; maybe upd will find them.  Its just a still frame, a view of the world that is different from where I am currently.  How I once was in this picture, walking along that sidewalk, driving on that street.  I am watching from a higher perspective, a lookout view of sorts.  I don’t really see me in the scene from the window, its just me observing, my view only.  I would say three-fourths of the time its nothing.  Just the street lights, streets, tree branches, parking lot.  Nothing too exciting.  But distancing myself from where I was once, a person walking around at night, trying not to be pulled over by upd.  Trying to go hang out with my friends in a different hall with a backpack on.  Trying not to get any unwanted attention from a known authority.  Just wanted to enjoy the night, have a leisurely walk  I was not doing anything wrong.  I was not drunk or high or stoned.  But I panicked, as if I was doing something or did something illegal.  I see the cyclical nature of the midnight hour on campus from my vantage point.  I now understand that even being not guilty of something and just minding your own business can result in unwanted attention.  That being said, is it really worth it to go out of your way to ‘walk the night’?  Of course I did run.  I saw the UPD car from a distance and stopped in my tracks.  They were turning. I was walking straight towards the vehicle over 50 meters away.  I turned and ran back to Caldwell.  In that moment, I realized that even just existing in a scene or situation that looks unfavorable to you in any way, where a person or authority can jump to conclusions, probably will not go in your favor.  You will get attention, wanted or unwanted, and pay the consequence for choosing to do what you did, in this case walk around a college campus with a backpack on.  So as I watch from above the calm yet repetitive scene of midnight campus I look onward to future events where maybe someone else will be watching me, and maybe see what I’m doing as nothing more than just walking, just as they are only watching.