The television ads are hard
to ignore. We are being told that
walking is good for our health. If we
just get out there and enjoy the fresh air and beautiful scenery, we will live
longer and more happily. I have no
reason to doubt this advice. Indeed, I
am a wholehearted subscriber.
In fact, I have always been
a walker. As a small boy I walked to
P.S. 153, while as a teenager I walked to Lincoln High School. I even walked four miles from Brooklyn
College to my small apartment. Without
access to an automobile, I sometimes had little choice.
Nonetheless, walking became
a way of life. It gave me time to
think. It permitted me to exclude
distractions that might have prevented me from solving knotty problems. But it also gave me exercise that I was not
getting elsewhere.
As a consequence, I
continued this habit well into adulthood.
Even after I owned a car, I routinely engaged in what Harry Truman
called constitutionals. Thus, in the
middle of a Rochester New York winter I bundled up and might not return home
for hours.
There was no question but
that I would persist in this practice when I moved to Georgia. The weather was sometimes warmer, but the
greenery and singing birds could be extraordinarily rewarding. They lifted my spirits and converted many a
nasty day into a satisfying one.
Another advantage that I had
not anticipated is that I became known as the “walking man.” Neighbors, whom I did not know, got to know
me because they saw me perambulating in front of their houses. In time they said hello—and I to them—and we ultimately
struck up conversations.
I also began to talk to
fellow walkers. Hence at one point I
encountered an older gentleman who looked as if he might be from India. It turned out that he was. Indeed, he was visiting his two daughters who
now lived in the United States. One was
a doctor and the other a lawyer.
As he explained, he was
himself an attorney. But more than this,
he had served in the Indian parliament.
As a member of the Congress party, he had been a colleague of Nehru and
participated in the creation of an independent nation. From my perspective, this was living
history. It enabled me to touch a corner
of the world that was far from my own experience.
I also learned about his
home state of Kerala. Before this I had
not realized that, from before the time of the Roman Empire, there had been a
thriving trade across the Indian Ocean.
This explained, in part, why so many Keralans were Christians and had
Christian surnames.
Nowadays, as a resident of
Cherokee County, I continue to walk. And
I continue to meet people along the way.
The biggest difference is that I currently do so in the company of my
wife. If the truth be told, it is
frequently she who motivates us to get out on a warm Georgia day.
Oh, did I mention that it
can get hot in Georgia? This sometimes
makes it imperative to get out very early in the mornings. Nonetheless, there are compensations. For instance, my wife and I have taken to
counting rabbits. So far our highest
total has been an eight rabbit day.
Moreover, the doctor tells
me that I am on the cusp of diabetes. Since
both of my parents developed this disease, I expect that my turn will
come. But I am fighting it and one of my
primary weapons is walking. The good
news is that this defense has other paybacks.
Perhaps the greatest benefit
is that Georgia can be so beautiful. I
have never lived anywhere surrounded by as many flowers. My neighbors may be raising them for their
own enjoyment, but they fill me with joy as well. What is more, in walking, I go slowly enough
to savor their grandeur.
Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University
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