I’VE NOTICED THAT A LOT MORE PEOPLE are walking in Benicia, at least in the areas where I walk, just a little above and below Military.

My Scotties, Jesse and Rory, take me out twice a day for a walk. We do the upper circuit, Shirley Drive, in the morning and the lower circuit, West Third to K or J streets, and sometimes down to the Carquinez, in the late afternoon. When I’m out walking I sometimes think of the wonderful story about a Czech dog — I think it’s Jaroslav Hašek’s story — who makes a round of train station pubs by hopping on and off the trains as he goes about his daily anabasis. Everyone knows him, he is treated as an old friend and welcomed to a bite of schnitzel and a sip of pivo (beer).

Hašek is famous for his work, “The Good Soldier Švejk,” a Czech classic that embodies both great Czech humor and that people’s resolve against the absurdities of war and oppressive politics.

Like a good walk, I have wandered a bit in writing since I began with the words from that American carol, “I wonder as I wander . . . ” written in the 1930s by folklorist John Jacob Niles after hearing an impoverished young girl sing a fragment of the melody to help her parents buy enough gas to get out of town in down-and-out Murphy, N.C. Wondering as we wander is, I believe, a general phenomenon of walking, if we have the time and patience for it.

I recall reading something by John Muir (a man who walked from his home in Martinez to Yosemite!) in which he talked about his conception of the word “saunter,” feeling that it came from Sante Terre, or Holy Earth. While I couldn’t derive that definition of saunter, the Oxford English Dictionary says the word has an “obscure origin.” I do like the idea of sauntering having something to do with holiness. There is, in fact, a World Sauntering Day. I, however, would like to see sauntering as a daily practice.

A beloved university professor, Dr. Albert Rosenthal, advised us to learn about our communities by walking around. He wanted us to see and feel with all our senses the places where we lived and worked so we would really know them. In Benicia, we have such a wonderful place to walk, to wander and to wonder. The views alone from Panorama or Shirley are breathtaking.

Benefits of walking

It’s ridiculous how many Google hits a search on “benefits of walking” gets — well over 213 million. At the top of my search list the information box put the list this way: reduced risk of heart disease; improved blood pressure levels; maintenance of body weight; lowered risk of obesity; enhanced mental well-being. A fellow Community Sustainability Commissioner once told us that walking has alleviated his chronic back pain. The Arthritis Foundation states that walking slows mental decline, lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s, improves sleep and lightens a person’s mood.

Thinking back to all things Czech and Slovak (my maternal grandparents were from Bohemia), my visits in the late ’70s and early ’80s to friends in Poprad, Slovakia would have us hiking in the Tatra Mountains. As this was during the time of Statism, they told me that going to the mountains, walking and hiking, was the only way to survive the oppressive communism under which they lived.

A 2012 study of nearly 20,000 children in Denmark found that “children who walked or biked to school were more attentive and able to concentrate. Mental alertness advanced to the equivalent of those half a year further in their studies. Walking and cycling had more of an impact on improving school performance than having breakfast and lunch!”

All of this from walking! What a great thing, to achieve all of the above and simultaneously make a significant reduction of greenhouse gases!

What’s possible?

This past Friday, Dec. 5 was the height of walking possibility in Benicia. Thousands of us walked up and down First Street for the annual December First Friday Open House. It was the perfect evening for a walk in our community. First Street merchants, our city staff and all of us made our town dazzle with our goodwill and camaraderie.

When we combine that community joy with walks down our beautiful streets, along the shore of the Carquinez and out along the State Recreation Park, I hope John Muir’s thoughts resonate: “I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”

Learn more

• Children walking: sciencenordic.com/children-who-walk-school-concentrate-better
• Hašek: kirjasto.sci.fi/hasek.htm
• Jane Jacobs: janeswalk.org
• john-jacob-niles.com
• John Muir’s walks: vault.sierraclub.org/john_ muir_exhibit/geography/retracing.aspx
• Safe Routes to Benicia Schools Maps: solanosr2s.ca.gov/app_pages/view/4529
• World Sauntering Day 2014: ibtimes.co.uk/world-sauntering-day-2014-how-saunter-z-1453221

Constance Beutel is the chair of Benicia’s Community Sustainability Commission. She is a university professor and videographer and holds a doctorate from the University of San Francisco.

Sharing is caring!