I walk to work. In general, it’s a very pleasant 20 minute walk. Just long enough to get me going in the morning, get a few steps on the pedometer, and to get my mind in the right place. Just short enough so that if I’m running late I can hustle and cut it down to about 15-17 minutes. It’s generally a nice walk.
Depending on when I hit various intersections with traffic lights and crosswalks, I walk along a variety of routes. I also try to mix things up. However, there is one route that has become a kind of farcical political maze.
In no way do I believe that walking in front of a house with a particular lawn sign supporting one candidate or political issue vs. another is in some way endorsing that opinion. However, in my own little, weird way, I feel like I should not “patronize” the sidewalk in front of a home that supports a cause that I do not (as I write this, I realize how crazy I am).
Well, there is one route where the first house on the right supports McCain/Palin, a ticket which I oppose. So I cross the street. To my satisfaction, there is an Obama/Biden lawn sign at the house opposite. I walk a bit further, and I see a “Yes on Prop. 8” sign, which is to change the California state constitution to ban same-sex marriages. I am opposed to that, so now I change street sides again. Two houses down, I have another McCain/Pallin sign or some other thing that bothers me. So I end up zig-zagging back and forth on each block like a mental patient trying to make a political statement.
I guess maybe it is more like a mental patient than I’d like to think 🙂