MEAN STREETS

"It's strange about the shoes. There are a lot of shoes out here, shoes without people attached. Ghost shoes: a flattened leather boot, a new black patent leather military dress shoe, a faded blue canvas sneaker. And it's always one shoe, half a pair. How do you lose one shoe?

Such are the mysteries of the lonely pedestrian. And I do mean lonely. I'm 24 miles and five days into a 50-mile hike west out of Washington, walking the commuter routes, the fastest roads from downtown to the suburbs. Except for a few people at bus stops here and there, I haven't seen a soul afoot. There's no one walking."

This article by a Washington Post reporter is a profound statement on the loss of something very precious in America: The Human Scale.

Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60034-2004Jan6.html
Archive search:
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/advancedsearch.html
Title: "A Walk on the Wild Side"
Author: Mary Battiata