I picked up my grandsons (7 and 8) at school again today.

[underthematrix]

56. I live in a small town that's a

walking and dog community. Everyone walks all hours of the day. We're retired and walk our younger chi everyday while our older boy goes for a ride walk in his stroller about three or four days a week. We started walking in earnest after our healthcare team made walking part of our disease prevention plan. Now we love it.

A couple of weeks ago, it occurred to me that walking actually makes for a safer cleaner healthier happier community. I now feel a sense of responsibility to my community to walk.

When we walk, we speak to all our neighbors along the way with the Greeting "Good Morning or Good Afternoon neighbor. I don't need to know their names. I just want them to know how happy I am to see them walking and enjoying our beautiful safe community. It also gives me an opportunity to model POSITIVE civil behavior by picking up any trash (very rare) I see and using a poop bag to pick up and dispose of my dog's poop. We have always full poop dispensers on major walking intersections.

In today's world, I would not let my children walk to school.