Eye Gazing....In a Way

So I am not sure what to title this blog entry. But it amazes me at how people change their reaction to you when they realize that one is a police officer. I have noticed that people awkwardly stare at me, mainly due to my height. This is happened for as long as I can remember. I am quite accustomed to it, though I do not like it. I always think of some great one liners to throw at them, but I choose to refrain myself. However, a completely different stare occurred today.

I was playing basketball with guys at church. We normally play twice a week and have some big names, from the area, show up to play with us. Today I was wearing my Police jersey from our annual butt whooping we give to the hose draggers. Obviously it says Police on it. Well a kid playing with us asks if I am a cop. I state that I am. He then goes on to give me the "eye f**king" stare. This is the stare that people who have dealt with police before give to size up the cop. It is basically to inquire into if they feel they can whoop my ass. This stare occurred for the whole game. He did not think I saw him, though I doubt he would have looked away if I had looked at him. (Quick Tips to "eye f**ckers": Most cops are aware of everything going on around them at all times whether you realize it or not. Whether or not we act on what we see depends on different criteria, but we are trained to think about events and individuals that surround us. Take this as a fair warning. Though I hope no one that reads my blog qualifies.)

This leads me to the question of "What in the hell makes people look at someone, especially cops, and think about whether they can whoop somebody else's ass?" It makes no sense to me, and yet I see it daily. This leads me to another blog entry on the audacity of people to argue or buck up.