International living often means more hellos and good-byes than anyone would likely wish for. It's not exactly my favorite aspect, but sometimes God is kind and gives you a friend who walks alongside you for more than just a year or two, but a whole season. Such a person is Ellen to me. And this weekend is a time for celebrating her!
A few months ago, I finally wrote the manifesto I'd been joking that I would write for years. Largely it was due to Ellen's support of it. So, in honor of Ellen, here is a sample from my work, "How to Walk in Public." To show my further appreciation of her, here it is in orange. 😄 Enjoy
How to Walk in Public: A Manifesto
by Katrina Custer
Dedication
To Ellen, who quoted from this work frequently, even before a single word was written.
My gratitude also goes to Suzanne and Heather, who made it better.
Introduction
As long as humans have existed, they have walked places. It was essential to survival as fire and food couldn’t exactly walk themselves into our homes. Over the centuries, we have devised all kinds of creative ways to walk less, including domestication of horses, chariots, steam-engine locomotives, airplanes, electric scooters, and the like. Yet none has ever negated the need, at times, to walk. It is a skill still celebrated worldwide by parents with their toddlers and Fit-Bit-wearers who achieve digitized fireworks.
What this manifesto seeks to address is specifically the skill of walking in public. Perhaps it is better labeled an art form, a silent dialogue between our own bodies and the environment around us. The goals of this writing are to illuminate basic principles of walking in the presence of others, thereby raising awareness of each individual’s responsibilities in the shared effort of moving ourselves from point A to point B.
General Principles
Largely the ideas laid out in this manifesto can be boiled down to one objective: having respect for those around you. However, there are some specific principles that can guide us in our quest to walk in public well, led solidly by our own goal to get where we are going and to be mindful of the purposes that guide others as well.
