On walking and talking

I’m assuming there are more pressing issues in the world right now, but can we agree to abolish walking and talking? Be it on the phone or live, just stop. It’s not a real conversation. It’s just exchanging words. If we’re walking, I a) can’t hear you well because of the traffic b) can’t look at your face because I’m trying not to step in dog shit c) can’t focus because I’m doing physical exercise. The same goes for phone calls, but there’s the added obstacle of the inexplicably constant bad cell reception. And to think that there are people who run and talk. The horror. Walking and talking, like much of our contemporary mores, is a cinematic artefact. It is just a stage direction to make exposition less boring. Real life conversation is the most sacred of social institutions. It is to be consumed with utmost vigilance. Conversation has very little to do with the verbal dialogue. It has all to do with sharing a physical space and with proffering mental capacity. Conversation is a rare opportunity to become the other. Listening demands care and attention. I should alter my proposition; let’s stop exchanging words unless we’re fully committed to the act. We can converse while walking but let the body do the talking. You gesture when there’s excrement on the pavement, and I let you pass in front of me when the passage narrows. Just keeping pace with another person is a conversation. In many ways, it’s like walking with a dog. You become sensible to the other animal’s needs and this sometimes takes you off the path but this is how discoveries are made. We can discover together. Words are unnecessary. If something needs to be said, remember it for when we sit down. Walking is great for thinking. We can think together while walking. In silence.