Seeing a squirrel
A squirrel darting back and forth in front of you is using a zigzag that evolved to beat hawks, not cars. Seeing one can raise a question about which of your own old reflexes still fit the road you are on.
What it may mean
Every driver has met the squirrel that starts across the road, stops, turns back, then dashes under the wheels. It looks like panic. It is actually a strategy, and a good one against the animals squirrels evolved with. A hawk or a fox struggles to catch prey that changes direction without warning. Against a car, which only goes straight, it fails. Most people carry habits like that, each learned somewhere it worked: dodging conflict, saying yes, going silent. Trouble starts when the setting changes and the old move keeps running. In 1613 the poet George Wither mocked people whose mood was ruined if a squirrel crossed their path. You can take the crossing as a cue to check which reflexes still suit your road.
Depending on how you saw it
A black squirrel
Most black squirrels are eastern gray squirrels with dark fur, common in parts of the Great Lakes region and southern Ontario. The dark coat may even help them keep warm in cold winters. Which trait that makes you stand out might suit your surroundings better than you think?
A white squirrel
White squirrels are rare enough that towns such as Olney, Illinois, and Brevard, North Carolina, have made them local mascots. Neighbors watch for them and count them. Which unusual side of you has your community made room for?
A squirrel scolding you from a branch
A squirrel that chatters, stamps and flicks its tail at you is sounding an alarm, telling you and every other animal nearby that it has seen you. It is a warning, not an attack. How do you let people know when they are too close for comfort?
A squirrel that walks right up to you
In parks, squirrels quickly learn which people carry food and approach them boldly. One handful of peanuts can create a regular visitor. Who has learned to expect something from you because you gave it once?
Why it happens in nature
Squirrels escape hawks, foxes and cats by darting in sudden zigzags, which is why they hesitate and double back in front of cars. Black and white squirrels are color forms of the eastern gray squirrel, and tail flicking with a scolding chatter is an alarm signal aimed at a predator, or at you.
What folk beliefs say
England
The English poet George Wither, in Abuses Stript and Whipt (1613), quoted by Brand, mocked people whose mirth was spoiled because a jay, a squirrel or a hare crossed their way, as they believed some mischance must follow.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 111. View the page
To reflect on
Which old reflex of yours still protects you, and which one no longer fits the road you are on?