that time I honored Individualism

Snow fell in thick sheets. The kind of snow that was like a blanket, hiding sidewalks and empty lots, making the streets disappear beneath sheets of white.

All around were tracks of people walking in some direction. Some of the paths were easy to follow while others made no sense at all. The paths belonged to men and women; there were paw prints and even little tiny feet here and there. Every step was proof that everyone was simply walking through the day, towards some destination and goal. For some it was home, for others it was work, some were walking dogs, and a few brave souls were even out for a run. Every story is captured on the street during days like this.

I came to a parking lot. As an experiment I wanted to know how easily I could walk the identical path of someone else, step for step, stride for stride, left-right, tit for tat. There were more tire tracks than footprints, but, there was still a fair amount of untainted data to work with. I set a goal— to get across and into the grocery store.

The first few steps were easy. I felt good. However, it became difficult to keep up with how the person angled his feet, how she might have veered step after step, or the amount of pressure one ankle had over the other. Did someone slip here? Will I? I had to concentrate, so much that… whoops, a driver almost reversed into me. I got fed up and still had more than half the lot to go. Forget it. Let me just get across. I'll walk my way, the way I'm comfortable, the way I know how. Besides, with all the tracks, tire treads, and intercepted paths I doubted if I was still on the path I originally picked. It got confusing, time consuming, wore me down, and I almost got pancaked.

At the entrance to the store, I turned around and was able to trace steps belonging to me— after I wised up. It wasn't clear where or how they began exactly, but somewhere out there was my path that included my steps. The experiment was over. I smiled at all the paths knowing that wherever each person was headed, they got there faster when the steps they took were unique and their own.