Solvitur ambulando

It is a phrase that is said to have been created by Saint Augustine, meaning to refer to a problem which is solved by a practical experiment. Now, that is the direct Wikipedia definition, and I think that it can explain more about why I continue to do this.

I have no car. My two bikes - one a ten-speed; the other a foldable model - are terrible at navigating the streets in my hometown, especially since the latter requires too much energy to work the pedals, and the former is now two flat tires and a wheel nut stripped down to the nub. I have a metro card and that is it. Oh, and my own two feet.

My two feet...

I do wonder what I will do when I can no longer rely on them. I have just finished Stephen King's 'The Long Walk,' and I wonder what would happen to me in such a scenario. If you do not know the book, the story is about a contest where one hundred boys are chosen to walk until there is only one left standing on the highway they travel on (three warnings and they 'get their ticket punched'). Now, this is an extreme scenario, but it does make me wonder on what I rely on my feet for, and what I would do without the habit.

Well, I doubt that I would be a writer. I have used long walks to focus my mind, clarify things that I am trying to get on the page, and grasp the smoke that is inspiration. Having only that open road ahead of me - and no real threat of being taken out or arrested - is important. My neighbourhood is fairly safe, and I know enough of my neighbours to be aware of certain patterns and types of behaviour they engage in. All of this allows the mind to wander and grow.

Some of you have read my work about running and may wonder if it has the same effect on my writing as an occasional walk. I would have to say that they are two very different tools. A run in my neighbourhood is like letting a skin shed itself from my mind. Certain problems suddenly seem less important when I have taken my body as far as it can go on concrete, grass and the tracks I have discovered. It does not really develop an idea that I may not even be aware of. A walk is a form of focus; a way that allows me to take in the world around me and consider what I have ahead of me.

Runs purge; walks converge.

Yeah, it is pretentious when put on the page like that. But I have already written about the actual process of what my day is like when I am stuck within the four walls of my room. Everyone has to find their own way to the page, and I cannot fault anyone for their process. I even mentioned Murakami, and his daily runs (something that I could not possibly do, even when I was much younger). But I have never discussed the simple act of walking.

And if you do need a new hobby...

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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