A Different Kind of Walking Tour
There are countless well-known phrases beginning with the word walk. Join us for an unusual walking tour.
Walk of Fame – Intended to honor and immortalize Hollywood Stars and various and sundry other celebrities. The stars so honored for a sizable contribution are unclear on what happens to their glorified names. Why do they believe it is an honor to have countless people trample on those stars? As far as the presumed immortality of such stars goes, a sidewalk star can be damaged and even removed. How does that qualify as immortality?
Walk of Faith – A glass walkway built on the side of a cliff on Tianmen Mountain in China. It is 4691.60105 feet high. One can look down to one’s potential crash site. If you suffer from acrophobia (fear of heights), that see-through walkway is a no-go.
Walk of Honor – This can be an actual walk or a designated site to honor veterans or first responders. Such a site may consist of bricks or plaques with the name of each honoree.
Walk of Hope – A padayatra (a foot pilgrimage taken for political and religious purposes), the one conducted by Manav Ekta Mission from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in India was for peace and harmony. It took 16 months to travel 4660.28394 miles. My mother said folks who embark on “walking tours” use the transportation of the Apostles. Of course, the Apostles wore sandals instead of Nikes or Reeboks.
Walk of Life – This is not only a 1980s song but also a statement on the varied paths our careers and lives take. Do not be surprised or dismayed by the frequent detours you have to take to reach the finish line. When it comes to the careers and lives of some folks, perhaps the phrase should be revised to say Stumbles of Life or Tripping toward the Six-Foot Under.
Walk in the Park – This implies that the intended deed or action will be simple and easy or a no-brainer. You can complete such a task with half your brain focused on developing possible variations on the Theory of Relativity.
Walk of Shame – This phrase is designed to be judgmental or entertaining. Until “The Game of Thrones” put a birthday-suit-with-bloodied-feet twist on the phrase, Walk of Shame referred to folks who spent the night together in a setting which was not the home of one of the parties. In the morning, the one who participated in the sleepover of sorts must depart wearing last night’s outfit. Or, if things became clothes-ripping rambunctious, then the escapee may be wearing borrowed, oversized sweat pants and T-shirt. However, the converse could be true as well except that in his case the borrowed clothing is normally too small for his large frame. Not the best fashion look, for either gender.
Walk of the Frost Maidens – This is a lesser known type of walk experienced by millions in the corporate world. To be precise the walkers are not all maidens, but they are freezing in their work environments because someone in the 1960s developed a formula regarding the perfect temperature in office buildings. The formula included the resting metabolic rate of a 154-pound, 40-year-old male, wearing a suit and a long-sleeved shirt.
Women tend to wear seasonal clothing, but what is perfect for summer outdoors does not work under the year round 71.6 degrees indoor temperature. Perhaps women could wear summer clothing up to the building entrance and change into furs and parkas before entering the building.
In our office building, the further east you walk on most floors, the colder it gets. The experience is similar to entering a walk-in cooler. Consequently, the ladies, maidens and otherwise, wear sweaters, jackets and sometime overcoats at their desks to keep the frostbite at bay.
What if everyone wore sleeveless shirts and shorts to level the business attire playing field? The drawback is exposing body parts that should never appear in public. It could be a traumatic visual for everyone concerned.