Sunday Morning II

Sidewalks are not a farmer's problem. That state of affairs is the concern of city slickers who choose to decorate their urban environment with concrete.

Now i'm not making any disparaging comments about sidewalks, here. I think they're nice. In fact, I prefer walking on concrete paths to romping in mud and puddles. Paved footpaths keep the house cleaner when you enter after a stroll in the rain.

And by the way, have you ever wondered why it was named a sidewalk? Why not a trackrun? Or a skippath? A stroll way would sound more romantic, wouldn't it?

Most paved foot boulevards are flat. Oh, they go uphill and downhill and occassionally tilt to one side or the other, but, generally, the surface is flat regardless of the direction they transverse. Asphalt stride-sides are a bit like life which can take any direction it chooses, merely go around a block or walk itself downtown, has its ups and its downs, and sometimes tilts precariously to one side or the other. If folks thought about life as being a sidewalk it would be much easier to get around.

Have you noticed that sidewalks avoid traffic injuries? They stop at each corner and let the next fellow [ section 214617 CB 203, LOT 1485A ] take the weight of pedestrians after they cross the street. They have a strict code of ethics about that -- not infringing on other's rights. That way, they don't overburden themselves with the moral issues of the whole city. They pay attention, solely, to their small block and that's it.

Come to think about it: Have you ever heard a sidewalk complain about who is walking on it? I'm sure, a paved footpath, being what it is, has a great passion about this issue. If one could communicate in cement linguistics, they might catch a whisper or two that sounded like: "Oh, my aching back. Tony Heviwaite gained 24 pounds this week which puts him well over the 300-pound mark. He walked over me not once, not twice, but 15 times today." You might hear something like that. I doubt though, we'd hear a crack about "Moral degenerates. How dare they walk this way."

Sidewalks do cut corners, sometimes. I've seen it happen in those cul de sacs. We all know that a cul de sac looks like a wide U-turn and takes the walker back the way he's already come. It kind-a forces you to retrace your footsteps and figure out how you got into this blind alley which has only one outlet. For those who want to go around in circles, cul de sacs are OK.

But to enjoy unrestricted travel opportunities, pedestrians must be encouraged to explore all avenues. Sidewalks are generally like that. They travel in all directions and allow you to choose your destination without interference.

I rather imagine if life were a sidewalk there would be more tolerance for another's point of view.

But then, farmer's don't worry about sidewalks. They merely plant seeds and allow them to grow. If city slickers and farmers could get together, the farmer's wisdom about the environment might whistle us past some of our more cemented-in concepts.

For the farmer knows that God's sunlight shines on both the beneficial and the poisonous plants -- equally.
Chae