The other day I was walking across campus for lunch. I had to pass under a walkway connecting 2 buildings, and the moment I stepped out from under it, a pigeon pooped on the toe of my shoe. This got me to wondering....

Was this a case of good luck or bad luck? It was good luck that I wasn't a wee bit faster so that I only got poop on the toe of my shoe and not in more socially awkward places. On the other hand, it was bad luck because had I been a wee bit slower I would have missed the entire enpoopination entirely.

I considered the role of perception in this wholly ambiguous event....

Had I been having a bad day, having a pigeon crap on my shoe would have just added insult to injury. However, in another light, I could have viewed it as a sign that things were improving, since it crapped ONLY on my shoe.

From the opposite side, had I been having a good day, I could have either let the advent of pigeon fertilizer dim my happy glow, or I could again have taken it as an omen that I was indeed a blessed being because I didn't actually have the aforementioned fertilizer in my hair or (gods forfend) drizzling down the front of my black work ensemble mere minutes before going on the public service desk.

I guess those annoying people who say "it's all in how you view things" might have been right after all. Pigeon poop is just pigeon poop, and the meaning or effect it has on us is entirely in our approach, and not inherent in the poop. I did manage to avoid the controversial topic of whether or not pigeons are capable of enough malice to actually aim (my lunch wasn't long enough).

I tried having this discussion with a couple of my co-workers when I got back to the office. One of them looked thoughtful (or dubious) and the other asked, "So... does any of this really matter?" To be honest, the entire pigeon defecation incident doesn't matter in the slightest, but that's not really the point, now is it?