Creeps

It's happened twice now that while I've been out walking, men have approached me in cars to ask if I was OK.  I think it is worth noting that both times the men were white and the overall tone was "a nice white girl like you shouldn't be walking alone."  It's also worth noting, with exasperation, that both times I was walking in Saxonwold, quite a locked-down secure suburb if ever there was one.  It's somewhat shocking to me that men think I would actually get in the car with a stranger (my mother's #1 gigantic no-no when I was a child) rather than walk 25 minutes through a leafy neighborhood to the bus.  Similarly, a very nice man that I work with said to me today, "I saw you walking here -- is everything OK?  Are you safe?"  I appreciate his concern and I understand that I look different than the average person strolling past, oh, the man selling boiled cow's head down the road, but the overall idea is the same.  Times like these make me think THIS COUNTRY IS INSANE!  Somehow it would be fine to get in a car with a complete stranger, but it's not OK to take a peaceful walk?  What's a gal gotta do to take a walk around here?  I'll say it again: if more people who looked like me got out of their houses and cars and walked, the fear and mystery would evaporate.  The streets would safer and more pleasant.  I know that there can be real risks and I know that I'm not invincible.  But I also refuse to fall into the trap of thinking that every person on the street is inherently bad or out to hurt me.  I think I'm proof that the risk is not as imminent as people imagine.  As it is, I think 3 very real and immediate dangers of walking are 1) cars driving dangerously and not yielding to pedestrians, 2) UV exposure from the harsh sunlight, and 3) falling bird poop.