A Walk in the Park

Yesterday morning when I was bringing in my garbage cans, I noticed a group of girls around 13-14 years old. There was one blind girl walking with a cane and three of her friends surrounding her looking around in every direction. They were on the gentle road behind my house that runs right next to the creek and park. They were describing everything they saw in vivid, almost poetic detail.

They would tell her about the squirrel running through the grass, the kids playing in the gentle stream, the leaves blowing, the people and cars coming and going. It was an amazingly sweet and tender experience. The girl had such a huge smile on her face listening to all of it and taking in the full experience of a gentle walk through the park with friends on a pleasant spring day. I’ve never experienced a walk through the park the way she did that day.

I’m not sure why that stuck with me so much, but it really made me smile. Meanwhile, my students are pestering me with endless excuses about assignments they haven’t turned in and all kinds of other stuff they are stressing about. I think I’m just going to turn all that off and focus on the act of friendship I saw this week.

Dr. Mike Hollis is a professor of Education at a Catholic University in Texas. He is also a freelance writer specializing in education and culture. Previously, he was on the faculty at the US Air Force Academy and was a journalist in the US Army.