I like to walk about amidst the beautiful things that adorn the world

There are a lot of reasons why it’s cool to work at The Music Settlement, and one of them is our health maintenance program. You might be surprised to learn that a community center for the arts even has a health maintenance program; it probably seems a better fit for some large for-profit corporation, where you’d find an on-site gym and maybe even exercise classes, but we do our part. We provide incentives and encouragement throughout the year to our employees to help them adopt better habits and make better choices for their health and the health of their families. Not surprisingly, this practice also helps our business operation, as it has been a proven link to keeping our overall healthcare costs down while they are spiraling up elsewhere. But what’s even more appealing about these efforts is that they can be fun - well, maybe not the Holiday Weight Maintenance Challenge - but in general, they help build a sense of community and camaraderie.

A perfect example is last month’s program, Walktober. All employees were encouraged to create a routine of regular daily walking for significant lengths of time as a form of overall exercise with a variety of benefits. This program was a perfect match for me, as I have always been a big fan of just throwing on a coat and letting my feet carry me away on a voyage of discovery. It was also fun because I am fortunate enough to work and live in two communities that seem designed for the walker: University Circle and Cleveland Heights. It’s odd to think that, conversely, there are communities that are not friendly to walking, but increasingly that is the case in our country. One of my favorite authors, the witty and acerbic Bill Bryson, has written of this same phenomenon in several of his books (most notably, his classic A Walk in the Woods) - American communities built for the automobile and not for the foot. I remember a particular passage in which he tries to take a walk from a hotel where he is staying and he quickly finds himself in a “Wal-Mart World”, where there are no sidewalks, no pedestrian amenities, and in which trying to walk from point A to point B is tantamount to suicide. This is by no means the only example, but one that is becoming more and more frequent as the sprawl of the suburbs continues unchecked. But really, when did we decide that sidewalks and crosswalks were unnecessary? When did it become acceptable that driving a quarter mile to the Get-Go for a slushy was the preferred way to go?

I know, I know, I’m slipping into curmudgeon mode again, mea culpa, but last month’s Walktober experience has only cemented this issue in my mind. There are few areas in our region that can be as stimulating to the eye and the mind as a mile or so trekked around University Circle! I’ve been taking a half-hour at midday every day to stride around our neighborhood, varying my course each day but always including a circuit of Wade Oval and the lagoon. These areas were designed for strolling, with unexpected sights, both natural and man-made, that catch the imagination and blend together seamlessly, even though they represent more than a 100-year span of development. How cool is it that you can walk by the John Hay house, now home to the Western Reserve Historical Society, and come across the brand new Stephanie Tubbs-Jones Community Plaza? Or that you can let your vision drift from the historic to the modern to the contemporary in just one building, The Cleveland Museum of Art? While you’re at it, shift your gaze 180 degrees from CMA and looming over the more traditional structures that line East Boulevard you’ll see the striking shapes of the Peter B. Lewis Building on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. And there’s so much more.

Similarly, I live in the Fairmount/Coventry section of Cleveland Heights, where a short walk affords me views of three of the most beautiful churches in the area, a nature area of surprising variety and drama, and the unique commercial districts of Coventry, Cedar Hill, and Lee Road. Every walk brings a new adventure and reminds me of the immeasurable value of a community that is planned on a human scale, regardless of the character of residence or business that is represented around me. One might argue that such neighborhoods and business districts are a hassle to negotiate and challenging to navigate, but that’s the beauty of the thing. They are not designed to help you pass through quickly while staring straight ahead and talking on your cell phone, they demand that you pay attention, take your time, and that you gain more than just speed by the experience. I think it’s critical that we all take time to walk the neighborhoods of our lives, literally and metaphorically. I don’t want to measure my life from the window of an automobile and the clock on the wall. How healthy can it be for any of us to sit in our workspace, car, and TV room all day? Let’s celebrate “Walktober” every month of the year, and wear out a few pairs of shoes in the process.


Have a great week!