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A Marine First Sergeant once told me "Humans are the laziest animals on earth; they will always take the path of least resistance. Humans are also the oddest animals; if you watch long enough you'll be surprised at what they do!"

Over the years I've found this to be true and put it into perspective as I carry out my daily duties as a Police Officer. I've been to a number of calls for assistance, left the residence just to sit somewhere out of view to see what would happen next. In one instance, a domestic disturbance in which the wife made accusations against her husband, unable to effect a lawful arrest, I sat back and watched. What happened afterwards, as I watched, they walk out of the house hand-in-hand (both appeared happy).

I've found that if you sit still long enough, even in a marked police car, you become almost invisible: I'd parked near a Burger King, just to take a breather when I saw two boys walk out of the restaurant. They stopped near the flag pole about 10 feet from my car and began fighting. Both were arrested.

I've stood on a street corner and watched prostitutes propositioning "John's" apparently oblivious to the fact that I was not more than 20 feet away. Needless to say her response upon being arrested was "If I'd known you were there, I wouldn't have done that!" I was in a uniform, and had a gun on my hip.

I've watched as a small child found money on the ground and returned it to it's rightful owner and wondered if the guy would reward her, only to be disappointed. I caught up with the little girl and her mother and offered her a reward myself.

Sitting still at a traffic light, I watched a man running across the streets while his pants fell to his ankles. He looked around to see if anyone had noticed, I did and told him about it a couple days later.

I attended a sociology course in which we were all required to go, as a group, for a walk through down town and note what all we'd seen. Everyone noticed the flower shops, the horse-drawn buggies, and other store fronts and the menu at "Luther's". I had to ask if I was the only one that saw the couple arguing on the street corner; or the helpless look on the little boys face when he thought he was lost, only to be jerked by the arm and scolded. And I was.

To me people-watching is more than a pastime, it's a learning experience. If you sit still long enough, you might just see something interesting. After all humans are the laziest and craziest animals on earth!

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