The Eyes Have It

January, and another freezing, biting, bone gnawing night at the hotel.. The parking lot in the back of the hotel was warped with mounds of frozen ice, and the alleyway made the crunch, crunch sound when some brave, or foolish, depending on your perspective, driver ventured out into the night.

I was visiting with one of my favorite guests, a truck driver from Montana. Jack was one of the good guys in life. He was still very strong for 63 years old, and even though he had his nice side, he was not one to fool with.

Jack had just come in to register before he would get his 8 hour call and hit the road again. We were both drinking a cup of coffee when we heard a car start up in the back parking lot,. We both looked up at the same time and watched as the engine revved up and the car shot out into the alley and crashed into a telephone pole.

Fearing the worst, Jack and I raced outside to see if we could assist the driver in case he or she had medical concerns.And then, what to our wondering eyes did we see, but a hooded tall figure beginning to flee. It took a minute to register in both our minds what we were witnessing. We had not witnessed a wreck, we had just witnessed a car theft gone bad. Jack yelled for me to call the police while he took off down the alley to try and stop the guy.

The police arrived in a few minutes, and the officer in charge asked Jack to wait outside while he questioned me about what I had witnessed. What did the guy look like? How tall was he? How much did he weigh? What was he wearing? I answered to the best of my ability.

Now, I stepped outside while the officer questioned Jack, asking the exact same questions . I went back into the office when they were done talking, and Jack went to his room to get some sleep out of what was left of his down time.When Jack had gone, the officer looked at me and said,"are you sure you two witnessed the same event"?Evidently our descriptions of the thief were so different that the officer was left scratching his head. I had him over 6 feet tall. Jack thought our guy was rather short. I said that he was wearing a grey coat parka style. Jack said he was wearing a short black jacket.

I have thought about that night over the years, and I vowed to be more alert when I was on shift in the hotels and be more vigilant getting good descriptions of everyone who came through the doors. I think, though, that the variation of answers lies more in the minds and experiences that we have in life, and how we view life. i guess in my mind, someone who was a thief in the night must be tall, and Jack, who had probably witnessed a lot more that I ever had at that point in my life, from his years on the road, saw a more accurate picture.

I could go on and on about this, because I am sure that is why positive identifications are so difficult, and maybe not even believable. I could go on and one about the sociological aspects of being products of our own fears. but, I won't.