Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

One of the the rare questions people asked me was:

What did you learn about yourself?

I had to think about that one for a while. Here are a few things I learned and re-learned about myself.

So, I learned:

Why I became an engineer – I am fascinated how things are built and how things are put together and how things fit together. I studied and studied the structures both natural and man-made that I saw along the way. Engineers built most of those things.

That I am not dead yet – I was 49 when I started walking and 50 when I stopped. I walked a thousand miles at age 50, and most of the miles I walked alone. Both physically and mentally, I am still quite alive.

That I love old things – I am high tech and up to date on current culture (web 2.0, blogs, social networking, the latest technology from the leading makers in the world). Still, I love old things that have stood the test of time. There must be a message in there somewhere about myself.

There is so much that I did not know – This was a big one. I thought I knew a lot, but there is so much history and culture and buildings and nature in America than I ever imagined.

That I like people more than I thought I did – I found myself wanting to talk to almost everyone I saw in small towns.

That I don’t fear strangers – I met many strangers on the road. I cannot recall a time when I feared someone who was walking up to me. I just always figured that they wanted to chat. Many people told me to be careful and watch out for those dangerous people in such and such a place. When I told them that everyone was nice to me and that I didn’t have any problems, they told me, “well, it wasn’t like that so many years ago. You would have been attacked for sure back then.” Hmm, never happened.