Around and About with Richard McCarthy: Grit and glory on the sidewalk

I was driving around and about on a recent morning, stopped in a line of cars at a construction site, and I saw a guy walking toward me on the sidewalk. Though it wasn’t a hot morning, the long-sleeved gray T-shirt he was wearing was soaked through with sweat, as if he’d been running hard, rather than walking. His pace wasn’t brisk, but he was resolutely pumping his arms and legs, grinding it out. The reading I had was that he’d just recently started to walk in the morning, and for him to do so was a physical, even an athletic challenge and feat. He looked to be in his early to mid-sixties, and I imagined he’d started to walk in the morning for his health. Maybe a recent medical exam resulted in his being warned he was heading for a heart attack or a stroke if he didn’t alter his diet and start exercising.

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