Every step you make takes you somewhere. Man walks from his cradle to the grave. The act of walking itself fascinates my imagination. At times food for my thought.
Sitting in the midst of a crowded food court, riding a bus filled up like a can of sardines, waiting for the metro rail train and get pushed around is an occasion for me to silence my own and listen to people just about me. People are busy moving up and down.
Everything is bustling with life. And in my solitary moments, I wonder. Life is so simple in its bare necessities.
From the single celled organism amoeba to the most complex Primate – MAN exhibits movement. Movement is a universal principle of life.
All the world is compelling. Watching people go towards different directions is like a system of probability. Perceiving that there is always that principle of uncertainty. At what point do these persons meet and how frequent these meetings occur or maybe how fast does each person walk? How do all these movements relate to the bigger scale like “Life”.
Many lines are drawn by every person walking – connecting, stopping, meeting and bending. Weaving in space. Watching people walk is a meditation on movement.
Walking is common to all human beings. It takes you from point A to point B. In mathematics and physics, a vector is an object that has length and direction. Comparatively, Age has it in length. Speaking of direction, I remember a song revived by Mariah Careh, which goes ”do you know where you’re going to? “.
Succinctly man’s existence is like a vector. Perhaps in Mathematical sense. Walking alone does not imply whether you are always aware of where you intend to go. In Geometry however, A Euclidean vector is represented by a line segment with a “definite direction” connecting an initial point – A to a terminal point – B. It is just like graduating from college with a specific course in mind.
On a broader sense, the goal of that “definite direction” can be answered by Philosophy in the choices of path under taken by the individual seeker. The summation of all line segment leads you towards a definite direction. Reflectively, walking is an act of man that evolves with the sense of self.
Force is a vector quantity. In Physics, a vector quantity is quantity that has both magnitude and direction. It propels movement. What propels a child to walk is genetically timed and triggered. The potential energy for certain action such as walking is potential force within every toddler. Learning to walk therefore, takes place in a genetically determined substrate and at a biologically optimum time.
The ability to walk is innate but remains dormant until the child reaches that age ripe for walking. An infant will roll over, sit, stand and finally walk.
Given the thought that walking occurs within an age range and frame of time, there is always an attempt to generalize children as one cluster. But I think every Child is a beautiful breath of life. Each a unique expression because every child will walk at his own pace and time within the context of a whole. A timeless gesture of humanity.
Life is truly fascinating as all sciences are interconnected. Speaking the language inherent to the discipline it follows. The line of thought metamorphoses itself.
Walking is an individual and social skill. It carries psychological and physical developmental aspects. The moment a baby makes his first step, the rudimentary skill to use freedom is also born. The capacity to find meaning and strength in making choices comes a long way from being a toddler to a lifetime. The baby begins to walk at about a year old or when the level of strength and balance to use this capacity is reached. It is an expression of maturational unfolding. Genetically determined developmental progression.
You can’t keep a toddler in one place. Once they are able to crawl, climb or walk they are all over the place making them prone to falls or common household accidents. They tend to put anything in their mouth. They taste bite or swallow small things they pick. They love to poke things with their fingers thus the danger of getting electrocuted.
I can imagine the horror of my mother and my nanny to find me climb the top most of the window grill reaching the ceiling. My grandmother Juana and my dad were just as calm to call for me to come down from heights. What is danger to a child of less than a year? Theirs is the language of exploring their environment. Of finding their own place in space.
It is amusing how toddlers assert himself. When he is able to make a few steps he begins to assert himself. He pushes away the hand of the caregiver to follow his own direction. Mobility opens the avenue to explore and search for freedom.
Asserting this capacity to walk, a child learns what freedom is. That there are consequences along with it. Like the pain of falling down and the joy of rising up. The fear of failure can also be traced from this stage when parents or caregivers whine each time a child slips or drops on the floor. When a child falls down, gently help him to rise up. Before pointing towards anything else around. Not to shame falling but to rise up.
I have always been fond of watching children play in the nursery, every child likes moving around in his own world. Exploring and exercising his potentials and strengths one at a time. Testing his boundaries and limits is related to spatial distance.
In other words, how does the child perceive distances within one’s immediate physical surrounding influences his relation to objects, persons and events? Experiences in the current “here” provide transcendence that metamorphoses concrete learning to abstract understanding. The effect of spatial distance on the child’s psychological and emotional development goes a long way.
Reversely, Psychological distance can be defined on several dimensions such as Temporal – time, Spatial – physical space, Social – interpersonal relationships, and hypothetical distance which is considered most important. All of which are a measure of Distance and how it influences concrete or abstract thoughts evolve. People who think abstractly are looking at a bigger scale; Focusing on convergence that captures the overall essence of the situation or object. Abstract thinking is high order thinking which includes capacity for insight. While others are concerned with the concrete in relation to psychological proximity; focusing on the periphery, secondary features that are less essential to the whole situation may tend to probably possess a less expansive perception.
Watching every child in space seeing how they order space and relate to time is worthwhile. How the child manage space resonates his future. It is the resonance of the adult life in a child’s world.
Walking is a beautiful experience. Nurture in the child the creative use of Freedom. Freedom is not the absence of restrictions. To fully cherish freedom it needs to be grounded well. The freedom to conquer or manage space is learned over time. Finding oneself in time and space.
Walking is a subtle reminder that life moves forward.
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MARIA LOURDES A. DE VERA is an artist-author, a registered nurse and a licensed professional teacher. Former Nursing Clinical Instructor then Lower school teacher. She is friendly, unconventional and fun. She is the author of “Art and the Creation Stories”, published by Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc., a very useful book not only for educators but also for anyone who is willing to revive one’s noble calling in a life of creativity. Coming up with her second book Embraced by the Light, a journey to Love. It is a book on the care at the end of life.
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