There is something about an empty path. Its promise, the unknown, the stillness, the solitude. The photograph accompanying this post, taken by Robert Waxman on the Sligo Creek Trail in Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside Washington, DC, captures, for me, the beauty of the empty path.

It snowed today in Washington, DC. A little more than most of us expected. We were told the accumulation would only be about one inch but this has turned into roughly five or six inches. Many parts of the world are used to far more than this, but in Washington, this slows everything down radically. And that slowness is a good thing. This city which appears to run on power, influence, networking, who knows whom, blackberries and iphones, is shown, in a snowstorm of a few inches, to be just like the rest of the world. Nature slows us down. Nature forces us at times, to take our own measure and be still.

Most of us don’t like this. I know I don’t. Yet I also know how good it is for me. To cancel plans, stay close to home, do the things I can do without much travel.

I ventured out this afternoon to my old DC neighborhood of Brookland. When it snows I try to shovel for a few of my old neighbors. I made my way over there today, fishtailing just a bit, and shoveled Ms. Willis’ and the Johnson’s walkways. The rowhouse I lived in for four years shares a wall with Ms. Willis. She is a kindly 80 year old woman, a native of Washington. The Johnsons, Frank and Doris, are also an elderly couple who live a few doors down. Frank used to share his lawn mower with me when I lived over there. These people are not consulted about health care reform. They are not sought out by the pundits or the president. Yet they are as good and kind as they come.

Brookland is still a “front porch neighborhood.” When I lived there, on warm  summer evenings, you could catch up with all the neighbors by spending a few minutes (or hours) chatting on one another’s porches.

It’s good to be slow. To talk to one’s elders and listen to their worries. The snow draws me to them everytime it comes. I’m grateful for this natural grounding, this root to very important people.

                               JosephRoss.net