Connecting Through Walking

All over the world people walk to get from place to place. If they can't walk, they can get from place to place with people who are walking along with them. Walking isn't something that can last a moment because it is something that gets us from place to place over a period of time, but it is something that brings us to experience places, people, and history in ways that are often transcendent.

People have walked on the moon, to represent their opposition to injustice, to bring attention to something that afflicts humanity, to grow deeper in a sense of spirituality or faith, to bond with a friend, family member, or partner, and often to be connected to something or someone important to them. Though many of us cannot walk, we can still experience its liberating power through the movement we make through life. The fluid motion of movement draws one into life and can transform someone's experience of their day or life. Walking along with someone in crisis or sharing in their company can be a way to tune into part of someone else's life, in their movements or even in their feelings when expressed in strides or other means. It brings people closer, more in touch with themselves, and often with each other, and becomes a common bond that has been forged because of what has been shared.

To me, walking is an experience that is close to the heart as it connects me to my soul by feeling the parts of life all around me. When walking with another person, I can hear them better, because I am doing something with them and this sometimes helps me connect to my own humanity. When walking alone, in sadness or in grief, I can feel the larger world reconnecting with me, and showing me more of the universe. In the same vein, I can often feel the parts of life expressed by what lies around me, through the hope expressed in a colorful mural that I pass, trees growing along a neighborhood street, the sadness of a neglected area that is just passed through, and joys of laughter I hear in people playing, dancing, and living near me. It is just a soulful expression of life to move and feel my senses feel and reach to this place of life.

In walking, I can challenge myself to know myself more, to grow through exertion, or to belong to a community or a friendship. It is the greater feeling of joining others in movement, hopefully forward, that allows for me to experience who it is that I am, and where it is that I want to be, amongst the many sights, sounds, and complexities of life.

People walking from place to place in 30th Street Station in Philadelphia