Bruce Hedgepeth, MD
Hey, wanna go for a walk?
Would you like to take a walk with me?
I’m going on a walk
Let’s take a walk.
I just need to take a walk.
You just need to go take a walk!
I’m taking the dogs for a walk.
Why do I always have to take them for a walk?
And many, many more!
It seems that we can conjure up many reasons to take a walk or go for a walk. Oh, and before we go any further, just exactly what is the correct way to say it? Do we go “on” a walk, “for” a walk, or do we “take” a walk? I can see it many ways. If we are “on” a walk that seems reasonable because we are actually “on” our feet walking “on” the road, track, concrete, trail, or whatever. If we go “for” a walk I can see that too as we may be doing it “for” ourselves, “for” somebody else, or maybe even “for” our pets. Or, are we doing it “for” the walk itself, as if the walk has feelings and a life and existence of its own. If so, maybe it’s time that we give it proper noun status and name it The Walk, Thee Walk, or just Walk.
Lastly, if we “take” a walk, from whom or what are we “taking” it from? Do we keep it or give it back after “taking” the walk?. Do we rudely “take” it, or are we covert and gentle in our “taking”? And if we “take” it, then there must be a place to put it or store it; and where is that place and what does it look like? Or, do we just discard it and throw it away; perhaps throw it back “on” the road “for” the road to be able to recycle it? Maybe I’ve just discovered a real life endless loop: take ⇔ on ⇔ for ⇔ take ⇔ on ⇔ for …
As you can tell, I was thinking about this and trying my best to figure it all out. I have come to the simple, yet complex conclusion that there is no perfect recipe or perfect answer to this enormously engaging question and conundrum. To quote Winston Churchill when he was discussing the Russians, this whole walk thing is “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”
There are so many permutations and combinations of reasons, scenarios, and circumstances that go into each walk that we take. Infinite multiplied by infinite still equals infinite; and literally there are an infinite number of determinants of what goes into a walk, why one goes for a walk, and what we say and see while on that walk. There might be some repetition, routine, and order to the walk, but the reasons and possibilities remains endless — and timeless too.
A walk can be any of these and more: mental or physical therapy sessions, exercise, a breather, a refresher, a romantic time, a time to grieve, a time to talk, a time to reflect, a time to muse, a time to remember, a time to plan, a time to connect, a time to pray, a time to ponder, a time to laugh, a time to decide, and a time to be silent. And this list is just the beginning; for whatever emotion, scenario, circumstance, or situation is going on in the human condition and in life, I suspect that there is the appropriate walk to go with it.
Walks occur at different times, under different circumstances, with or without different people, and with or without pets. Those very things will make the walk what it was meant to be. I suspect that each walk is and was ordained to take place in the very moment in which it took place. What was said, what was thought, and what was seen were each orchestrated just for us. Like each day that brings its own joys and sorrows, victories and defeats; its own problems, own challenges, and own solutions, and its own physical parameters; so does a walk encompass and envelop these same descriptors of life and living.
I went for a walk today to energize, renew, refresh, think, decide, and exercise myself and our two dogs. It was better than good and it was meant to be. It was in the moment — and timeless too.
Come with me and let me share with you a little of what I saw and experienced on a beautiful fall afternoon in the Ozarks:
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