A Solitary Walk
05/29/2020
A New Perspective on a Routine Run
The poetry of earth is never dead
~John Keats
In a society where our lives are spent on the internet and our eyes are glued to screens, we never really find time to embrace the opportunity that a leisurely stroll gives us. There are many things that the great outdoors has to offer, most of which we humans take for granted. While the internet is an amazing outlet for people to do unimaginable things, it does come with some flaws. Everyone knows that staring at screens for a long period of time damages your eyes; however, it also makes us forget about the magnificence of the woods. We forget about the fresh scent of trees. We forget about the colors that the flowers make at full bloom. We forget about the truly beautiful scenery that the spring brings with it. We should not let this pandemic force us to rot our brains by staring at pixels for hours on end; we should get up off of our asses and identify the true beauty of the outdoors.
For my solitary walk, I decided to take an alternative approach and ran rather than walked. I thought that this would be a perfect approach, as I run the same route on a regular basis; however, every time a run this route, I am never focused on the scenery around me. Every time I run, my eyes well up because of the strong gusts of wind moving opposite to men; the blaring music mutes even the sound of my breath; my legs burn . My attention is always split several different ways, but never has it been directed towards the scenery around me. Well, that is until today.
Normally, I run with my eyes fixated on the ground before me. I rarely look up, and when I do, it is to look both ways in order to cross the road. Today, I took my eyes off the ground, and looked up. By doing so, I noticed many things I had not before. I noticed the hidden pond behind a web of dead trees. I noticed the colorful array of flowers that the local farm has to offer. I noticed the beam of sun weaving through a jumble of branches to make a single patch of light on the street. I noticed a squirrels nest high up in an oak tree. I noticed the beauty of it all. Most of all, I noticed how fortunate I am to be able to do something like this; to be able go outside and soak up the scenery; to be able to enjoy the great outdoors.
The beautiful spring environment was not put on this planet just for you to sit at home and stare at a screen. It was made for a reason. So get out there and explore.
Who knows what you might find...
This was a really well-written piece Oliver. The parallel structure in the first and second paragraphs added a lot to this piece and elevated it. The things you wrote about were very descriptive and meaningful.
Posted by: Rory Kennealy | 05/11/2020 at 08:12 AM