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| Chandra's feet upon the earth, 2022 |
C.S. Sherin
05 August 2022, updated March 2023
I had kind of an odd experience last month. I was outdoors at a music event, and was lucky enough to have a comfortable outdoor seat on a deck overlooking everything. It was a beautiful summer evening...sun, light breeze, and warmth.
As I spent well over an hour in that spot, I began to notice something that I've never, in my life so far, gotten to witness. This alone surprises me. Without trying, I got some strange view of my fellow human beings in a way I would never have thought.
Especially on a night when I was deeply entranced with exceptional entertainment that my life partner was participating in. There were enough worthwhile objects for my attention. And yet, what I observed got my attention, despite all of that.
It started out like this...
The deck is fairly large and the venue is busy. There are plenty of people moving about to find their spots, greet friends, and to go back and forth for things they want to see or get. The deck is also old and worn, yet sturdy. But, it has some give. This is what gets my attention, without trying.
A tall and heavy person walks across the deck in front of me. I am not trying to notice, but rather, their steps are like stomps that make the deck bounce like waves, which are concerning.
It is something that those standing or sitting elsewhere wouldn't feel or see to the degree that I, or those others in the chairs around me, did. The chairs on the deck give a striking "feel" for the concerning waves that come from the stomps of the "stomper" walking by. It is a "Woah!" type feeling. Like, "Woah, step a little lighter Margaret, you are rocking this boat in a crazy way right now!"
But, Margaret doesn't notice. Nor do those standing about talking. And, if you look at her, she doesn't look like she's stomping...not at all. She's simply walking like she always does, normal and all.
Now, if my observations had stopped there I may have come to the erroneous conclusion that all tall and heavy people are stompers, as revealed through sitting in the nice chair on an aging deck. However, I actually didn't come to that conclusion. What I thought was, "Wow, this particular person really has heavy steps, and it is alarming to feel it!" Subconsciously, I probably did equate size and height with the stomps. But, only initially.
This particular person stomped (walked normally) across the deck back and forth probably three times through the night. Each time, I wished she would take it easy, though she was doing nothing out of the ordinary, really. As the night unfolded, things got really interesting.
I will spare you the play by play descriptions, and will get to the very interesting thing that I learned about people that night. Stompers, people who walk very heavily upon the earth/ground/deck or whatever they are walking upon, cannot be categorized by size, weight, gender, age, or appearance of strength!
And, what I observed is, you cannot spot a stomper by looking at them. I saw small people who were such heavy stompers that you would think they were three times their size. There was a tiny middle-aged person who was a big-time stomper. Just as big as the
biggest of them. Same with the gentle walkers. Those with gentle steps
included the tallest and heaviest as well as all the other sizes,
shapes, genders, abilities, etc. Nor did the stomping at all equate to the type of shoes people were wearing!
This is fascinating! If I were to estimate what the percentage of people there, who were/are stompers, I would have to say that they weren't the majority, and definitely less than a third of the people who walked by, and back and forth.
I loved witnessing the fact that this dynamic exists, hidden most of the time, and that it isn't defined by stereotypical qualities. Some people really stomp their way along. They step heavy and hard as they walk. And they defy categorization by appearance or qualities!
What causes this? I have no idea. I don't know if it is a mental mindset, personality, physical attribute, suppressed anger, selective gravity effects (ha ha), or what! The majority of people step gently, or at least, aren't full-on stomping (at least in the tiny cross-section of people I saw that night).
Of course, I think of the attitude of conserving energy, of the choice to walk gently upon the earth when I think about this. And I think of the stompers...who are using so much extra energy to step; much more than they need to. Like an ongoing tantrum of a toddler stomping, they have made it a way of making their way through life. But, you would never know it.
Of course, those are all my preconceived concepts around stomping versus stepping lightly, but I really have no idea what is fueling and defining the difference. It could be something completely un-nuanced and innocent. I really don't know. But, since I look at life symbolically or metaphorically a lot, I go there with it.
I do know though, that I am not a stomper. Not that stompers are bad. Not at all. I simply know how I step. That is interesting too. I am pretty mindful of how I do things and how my presence and actions exist. Being in dance at a young age, being in theatre, and learning the Alexander Technique, and feeling close to Nature, all have helped me in self-awareness and mindfulness. And, I'm sure I do stomp a bit when I'm mad or frustrated.
But that is the thing. I'm pretty much drawn to judging the stompers as immature or somehow discontent. I see the bias in me already formed.
Regardless, I do know there is a need to be aware of how we step through life and how our steps ripple out and affect others. What I am saying is metaphorical. What I witnessed was literal, and remains unexplained, without category or judgment. It's food for thought and being...
What is fueling our steps emotionally, mentally, and kinetically? It is an interesting point of view to have witnessed. I will keep it in my mental library of interesting things I have observed but never thought of or expected. I really have no final judgment on the stompers. My mind is also open, despite observed bias. Who knows what their situation really is. But, it is a real and literal quality, whatever it really is.
. . .
An update, an afterthought: One thing I completely overlooked in my assessment of this experience... One of our cats, Solomon, is a slim, tall, light-as-a-feather-stepping kind of fellow. He walks lithely and lightly, with no sound at all. Except....except for the rare times when he STOMPS! Dear Solomon, over the years, keeps watch of the yard around our house day and night. And, there used to be a lovely little white cat...we called her Mrs. White, and she would wander the block in front of her house day and night when she wasn't indoors. She especially liked to visit our front and back yard. When Solomon would spot her, his excitement was palpable! And when she would move out of view of one window, he would quickly jump down and stomp throughout the house to get to the next window. My daughter was the one who noticed, with great amusement, that his usual light-footed way turned into stomps! And sure enough, I began paying attention, and for sure, you could hear his little furry feet pounding down loudly with enthusiasm, at tracking Mrs. White in his territory! Amazing. All force of passion, and nothing to do with weight, size, or usual habit.
Maybe everyone that stomped that day was simply that excited?
