If you saw the first Crocodile Dundee movie, you’ll remember what he was like when he came to New York City right? 
He would say ”hi” to strangers, start conversations w/ hookers, the taxi drivers, the bell hop, you name it. At the end of the day, he was still Mic Dundee. The Big Apple didn’t cause him to loose is perspective on life/people.
Growing up in a small town in the Midwest has a tendency to instill some of those same qualities. I moved to New Jersey from 1985 to 1990 to pursue some courses in marriage and family counseling. Instead of Crocodile Dundee coming to town it was me DM and I was the one who couldn’t understand why people were so guarded. I remember going to work one morning on Hwy 23 in rush hour traffic w/ my construction crew. There along the side of the road was a stranded car. There were several of us in the van and I asked the driver to pull over. He looked at me like I was crazy but pulled over anyway. The car looked like it was hung up on a little snow drift. There were 4 or 5 of us in the van, and I’m thinking to myself..we should be able to push it out in a second! Sure enough, that is what we did and everyone had a blast.
Everett (one of the guys on the crew/ who had grown up in inner city Patterson NJ) would constantly say,
“DM you are such a trip! meaning I would suggest the craziest things by his way of thinking…but in the end would have to admit he had fun.
Keep in mind, strangers in our area will still wave at you when you meet them on the gravel road. If you are in the grocery store, there’s a good chance you will have at least one, and probably several short conversations before you check out. You can fill your car w/ gas before you have to pay for it and if it’s a local check you can write it w/o showing your ID. A s I sit here writing this post, I thought it would be good to let you know I am not a guarded person, and have no intention of starting now. I don’t wrestle crocodiles but have been known to take on 3 agressive roosters at the same time. Click this link: and read the seventh comment. http://rindy.wordpress.com/2007/06/05/am-i-weird/#comments
Well it’s time to wrap it up. As always, thanks for reading!
I still laugh every time I think of this
I would take on a crocodile before I’d go near a rooster, let alone 3 of them! Those things are mean…
Roosters! You are indeed macho!
We had two Easter biddies (back when they sold chickens dyed pastel colors at Easter time) that grew up into mean white leghorn roosters. We put them out with the horses. They would chase me (I was in fifth grade) and my friends. Our only defense was to throw our shoes at them.
You’ve just given me an idea for a post!