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Put on your walkin' shoes
We won't, of course. We love our big ol' SUVs too much, and we love the convenience, not to mention the air conditioning, our cars give us. Not even $3-agallon gasoline has changed our habits much. But we all need to walk more. If we'd just walk more and use our cars less, we'd be a lot healthier. Americans are becoming fatter and fatter, and Georgians, unfortunately, are among the fattest of the fat. Not only do we drive everywhere we go, we eat double cheeseburgers and supersized fries from the fast-food restaurant's drive-through. We tend to like our food deep-fried and covered in gravy. Our vegetables just aren't right unless someone throws in a ham hock while they're cooking. If we'd keep the keys in our pockets and walk more, we might just ease the demand for gasoline and, just maybe, the price would go down. Instead the price is going up. Six-cents-a-gallon overnight at the convenience store near my house. I realize that 6 cents per gallon only means about a dollar more each time I fill up, but those dollars eventually add up. I'm as guilty as anybody. I love my car. I used to walk a lot, especially if I couldn't find an adult to drive me where I wanted to go. "Mama, drive me to Andy's house," I'd ask. Andy was a friend who lived down the street, about eight houses away. "Walk there yourself," she'd say. "It builds character." I was tempted to say, "I don't know about building character. Walking does, however, build blisters on the bottoms of your feet." But arguing was pointless, so I hoofed it to Andy's house. Then I learned to ride a bike. That's when I officially gave up walking, deciding that riding somewhere was, in fact, a superior way to travel. When I got my driver's license at 16, I thought I had reached nirvana. Not only could I ride where I was going, I no longer had to provide the propulsion myself. From that point on, I drove pretty much everywhere I needed to go. The truth is, I'd probably drive from the living room to the bathroom right now, except I can't get a Honda Accord through my front door. I really didn't walk much at all until Glory, the black and white Springer spaniel who lives at my house, came into my life. She sort of expects to go for a walk - or two - every day. Glory would walk from here to Macon if I let her, and there for a few years, she and I walked about three miles every day. Eventually, though, we got out of the habit. The excuses were easy to come by. It was too hot or it was too cold. I didn't feel good. There was something on TV I just had to watch. I had work to do. It was simpler to just let Glory out in the back yard to tend to any business she had and forego the walk. But soon, the lack of walking, coupled with my fair share of deep-fried, gravy-covered dinners, left me literally too big for my britches. Glory, for her part, was becoming a little porker herself. So, in recent months, we've rediscovered the joys of walking. We're not saving much gas, though; we have to drive to the park where we walk. Still, there's something rejuvenating about a long walk. It restores both body and soul. It's an opportunity each day to clear my mind. No worrying about deadlines or budgets or anything really. Thanks to our daily walks - along with a diet I've been on since March - I'm 35 pounds lighter and I'm wearing clothes that spent many months pushed to the back of my closet because they were too small. The walks have become a part of our daily ritual. Admittedly, I sometimes have to force myself to go. Those old excuses are still there. But I can see and feel the benefits. In fact, I wish there were more places I could walk. But we're not a very pedestrian friendly society. Many of us commute many miles to work. The grocery store, the barber shop and the library are all too far away to walk. All of us look for that parking space right next to the building instead of taking the one that'll make walk a few extra steps. But we all should try to do better. We'll feel better for it.
Go ahead. Put down the paper and walk around the block. Maybe you'll see me and Glory.
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