Finally seem to be finding a rhythm …
01 MAR 2009 – 0 miles
02 MAR 2009 – 0 miles
03 MAR 2009 – 2.75 miles
04 MAR 2009 – 2 miles
05 MAR 2009 – 3 miles (was sick and miserable… it’s a good thing I’m not bitter..)
06 MAR 2009 – 6 miles
07 MAR 2009 – 2.5 miles
16.25 miles Total this week
34.5 miles Total to date (965.5 to go)
One mile is not very far.
But inertia is an extraordinary force. I use the term somewhat loosely here. However, when I’m relentlessly chopping fruit, and making lunch, and prepping dinner, and managing correspondence, and returning phone calls, and forgetting that I’m supposed to be somewhere – stepping out of the grip of that motion is nearly impossible.
I cannot describe the willpower involved in stopping those activities and engaging in something that I find incredibly pleasurable – walking with my children. I keep finding that when I finally shake loose, and break free from the inertia holding me in my pattern, this time I spend in meditation is delicious – it actually feels decadent… Perhaps it is. I find that once I’m out, and we’ve gone a mile or two, there is very little stopping us from going another mile except for time constraints.
I’m learning for myself the lesson that I’ve tried to share with my teenager – meeting a challenge and keeping a commitment in small ways a) makes it easier to meet challenges, and make commitments; and b) makes one ready for the big challenges, and the big commitments.
Was thinking again about vulnerable people. Two thoughts – first, how often people effected by policy are completely excluded from making the policy… Almost by definition, this has more negative impact on the vulnerable. This is not to say that no one, anywhere, ever includes the effected parties in policy making; rather that this is the exception, not the rule. Case in point – the AATA here makes changes in the bus schedule, seems like every year. After nearly 15 years here, it is clear that they are evolving the system to meet the needs of commuters to downtown employers. With every change there are hearings that are poorly advertised, and the meetings themselves are rather obscure. That is to say, even if you make it to the meeting, it would be hard to figure out what’s being proposed, how it would effect you, and what alternative suggestion you might make. For me, the changes are hardly noticed, and if they are, the change is a mild annoyance at worst. However, if I was disabled, or working part-time outside of downtown, or depended on the bus for primary transportation – most of these changes would really stink.
The second thought is related. When you act to support one group of vulnerable people, you usually, inadvertently act in the aid of other vulnerable people . Another case in point: accessibility. I know, without question that if a building is handicap accessible, that it is accessible to my small children, and myself with a stroller. When sidewalks are made accessible, they are also made child-friendly.
There is so, so much trash.
Is the path of least resistance a bad thing?
Finally got a few small notebooks, now I just have to remember to bring them.
