From the Sidewalk

We here at A Chicken in a Cage with a Ferret have several traditions that we hold to rather stringently. They are as follows:

1. Be awesome.

2. Go on lots of hot dates.

3. Write a post every July 2nd to commemorate the anniversary of beginning the blog.

Since I've already been doing a pretty good job with the first two traditions, all I need to do is make good on the third to be in good shape for the next year. And so, today we pause to celebrate the blog and hopefully to write something that is just a little less crappy than the drivel that is normally here.

Last week I did something that I had not done yet since I moved to Cincinnati last August. I went for a walk in my area. I should have done this a long time ago. Since moving, I've become very...boring. Even more boring than I was before. When I'm not at school or work, I spend my time watching TV shows on Hulu or....well, that's about it. And because of this, my environment has become restricted to my 500 square foot apartment--made up of Bible commentaries on the shelves, empty Coke cans on the coffee table, and dirty laundry laying all over the bedroom floor. It's pretty small, and there's not much going on.

But the world outside my walls is much bigger, and last week I decided to go check it out. It was a little bit of biblical misapplication that inspired me to do so. I came across Proverbs 26:13: "The sluggard says, 'There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!'" The sluggard remains home because he imagines some danger waiting for him outside, and I realized that maybe I stay home so much because, well, the world out there can be scary! You could read the verse today by saying, "The sluggard says, 'There is a drug dealer outside! There are gangs roaming the streets!" Maybe that's what kept me indoors. And so, I decided to put my imagined fears aside and take a walk.

What I noticed on my journey was how different the world looks from different perspectives. I walked along a street that I drive down almost every day, but this time I saw it differently. I noticed little things that I had never seen before. I experienced sights and sounds that I have been immune too in my air-conditioned car with the radio bumping. By slowing down and walking rather than zipping by in my car, my perspective of the route totally changed.

The world looks different from the sidewalk.

I heard people's conversations who were talking on their porches. I felt uneveness of the sidewalk under my feet. I smelled the raccoon roadkill that had been pushed into the gutter. I saw closed-down businesses that I had never noticed before. I had to duck under low tree branches than hung over the sidewalk.

The way our world is structured today, it's easy to isolate yourself from everything outside of your little bubble. You can separate yourself from so many things. And this is a tempting way to live because it's so safe and comfortable. But it can also get boring really fast. Great ideas and great lives don't often come from people who spend their entire week watching reruns on TV. They come from those who are observing and engaging with the world around them. They come from people who slow down their pace to take note of the world as it exists.

So don't just watch the world through a windshield. Encounter it from the sidewalk.

And now, before I go, it's your turn to join in the blogiversary fun. Here's how you can participate. Leave a comment with three parts: (1) Congratulate me on my four-year run blogging and give me a nice compliment; (2) Let me know what kind of dessert you're going to send me; (3) Let me know what you'd like me to write about in a future post.

In all honestly, the third part is the one I would be most grateful to hear back on, so don't worry too much about the first two.

But seriously though, you should probably send some dessert.