Today was International National Newton Bowen Walk to School Day. (I'm sure some other schools participated, too.)
What a wonderful morning. Traffic was not just noticeably less, it was dramatically less.
Son of NS&S, unprompted upon waking: "We should all wear 'No Cars' signs."
Lauren the crossing guard: "Wow."
Two young ladies behind me: "Do you think your class will have the most walkers?"
The drive in front of Bowen, which is usually backed up, had no cars on it for stretches at a time.
Police Officer Devine stood quietly in a corner with literally nothing to do.
But what really moved me was the human scale of the morning. The front of the school was packed with people, not overwhelmed by cars. It was a community, not a line of traffic.
I'm at a loss of words to describe how much better it was.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Walk to School Day
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
The trick is to keep it going. A one day event is nice, how do we get to a month of walking or two months of walking?
amy sangiolo
I look forward to seeing how walking to school works in January --when it is cold and when the kids will be walking home at dusk.
My 4th grade daughter and I were proud leaders of one Burr School's many walking groups on Walk to School Day. For us, it wasn't unusual in that we usually walk the 1/2 mile to school every morning. But what was unusual was getting lots of drivers waving and grinning at our bunch of walkers. We even made a couple of new friends - kids we've never seen walking before.
We've only missed one day of walking so far this year, but cynic, you're right, in the winter it's tough. It's even dangerous when people don't clear their sidewalks or when plow drivers leave enormous mounds of along the sides of driveways. There's a condo association in our neighborhood that I've got to go plead with before the snow hits; whoever plows their driveway makes the sidewalks impassable.
-- Susan Cassidy
Post a Comment