Why Every Life is Pedestrian

Why are we so obsessed with turning life into a long walk?

Take a moment… give it a thought. From the earliest philosophers and influencers — I daresay writers and poets — to contemporary life coaches and motivational speakers who take you on expeditions of self-discovery inside a conference hall, everybody insists that life is a road to be traversed. With reference to life as a journey, how many times do we hear about finding our path, following someone’s footsteps, coming to a crossroads, crossing bridges, hitting dead ends, reaching milestones, taking detours, going astray, finding our way back, walking beside someone, or parting ways… I could exhaust both you and me with the metaphors.

Curiously, we are normally never recommended to sail through, become airborne, or lift off in life that seems to stay stubbornly on terra firma. It is also astonishing how little confidence is bestowed upon public and private transport. Nobody asks us to drive to our dreams, board a ferry across troubles, or take the 8:30 local to fulfilment. I have never been told to fasten my seat belt as I would be arriving at my purpose shortly. Life, apparently, is always more a hike than a voyage.

Before stepping further, let me confess that brooding over stuff that sensible people take for granted is a chronic affliction and one of the many I harbour. If life is a journey, I feel obliged to wonder why everyone is walking instead of flying, paddling, roller-skating, or at least borrowing a bicycle. If you would rather just get to point B without interrogating point A, I idiomatically urge you to take a walk. It is just healthy you know. I can never be too rude 😉

Or perhaps we could walk together and wonder what a beaten path offers more than the vast blue oceans and skies put together. Why does humanity always prefer dusty roads to narrate stories of its existence?

I reckon the overwhelming reason is that a path offers firm ground beneath our feet. It is such an intrinsic feeling that we seldom give it a thought until we consciously consider reaching down with a foot and finding nothing below. The idea is scary. There is immense psychological reassurance in being planted on solid ground. In response to being pushed back, it doesn’t yield but propels us forward with equal conviction. Every step boosts the next one as if renewing our covenant with the earth to “carry on…”

Perhaps the idea of life as ambling down a road also makes the journey more intimate. We have ships sticking to maritime routes and aircraft following flightpaths with remarkable precision. However, the moment the coastline disappears or the visibility becomes a gyroscopic horizon, a journey transcends from being personal to providential. A road may turn, climb, descend, narrow, widen, or disappear behind a bend, but it is hardly ever devoid of all landmarks and milestones. It allows us to gauge the extent and direction of our progress with such basic instruments as our eyes. Something not always possible in the middle of the blue yonder.

Going on a tangent, perhaps this metaphor has nothing to do with roads. Maybe it is too synonymous with our idea of ‘getting around’ in life. Before any of us spoke a full sentence or realised that life came with ‘issues,’ we stood up. At some point, we grabbed a limb or a piece of furniture and gingerly hoisted ourselves up on tiny quivering legs and took those first wobbly steps that made entire households erupt in celebration. Even the ones not destined to ‘walk’ in this life made an attempt to ‘move’ and that was enough to mark the start of their journey. From cave dwellers to the first explorers to kings, queens and nobles to Nobel laureates to lunatics, every human being has gone through this initiation with no favours or prejudice. The idea of getting on our feet and walking is so timeless and universal that it overwhelms us as the choice to visualise life as a journey.

Walking may not be the most preferred, luxurious or fastest way to travel, but it makes every other person a co-traveller. The notion can be humbling. At the very moment when I am writing this or you may be reading these words, there may be countless people flying at thousands of feet, facing towering waves in small fishing boats, sliding into luxurious limousines, riding bikes in the rain, hailing cabs, getting crushed in overcrowded metros, trudging barefoot on scorched roads, or pushing forward in wheelchairs. Metaphorically, we are all just walking our paths in life. I consider that a great equaliser. No matter how remarkable a journey, no matter how magnificent or mundane, every life is pedestrian, being accomplished the exact same way… one step at a time.

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