Title: Today's Meeting With the Wise Man
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Blog Entry: As the dogs and I were returning from our walk this morning, cresting the steep hill on which the village is perched, we encountered an elderly man sitting on the small stone wall that keeps people and cars from tumbling over the edge. The man motioned for the dogs to approach, and since they were leashed, I walked over with them. He greeted me and petted the dogs. The dogs settled down at his feet so I sat down on the wall next to the man. He told me that he now lived in the retirement home down the street and went out to walk every day. He said he had to get out of the retirement home as often as he could because most of the people just sat around. He told me he didn’t understand how people could sit around all day. It drove him crazy. He needed to move. He used to be a farmer. He told me that he had a dog and it was always by his side when he worked the land. He missed that, he said. He told me that he was resting on the wall before heading down the hill. Then he’d rest again and walk back up. He was going to walk back up a hill that many of our young clients refuse to walk up because it is so vertical. But to this man, being able to walk up this hill signified something very important. It meant that he was alive and healthy – healthier, both physically and mentally than the people in the retirement home who no longer had any desire to get out of their chairs and move. Walk for your health and sanity. Walk every day you can.
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