[One Thousand Characters a Day] Such an Intellectual Walk＜1＞-Cannot See Properly

Editor's NoteWhat does it mean to walk? Walking is not simply the act of moving physically from one place to another. Sometimes, two unfamiliar people walking together develop intimacy and affection, and often, when faced with unresolved frustrations, one finds answers through meditation during a walk. The walking described in this book is a way of revealing the person themselves. The author, captivated by the vibrant lifestyle of Manhattan, New York, decides to walk ordinary neighborhood streets with various experts to focus on the 'overlooked things.' The world seen through the eyes of a geologist, illustrator, doctor, visually impaired person, baby, sound engineer, entomologist, and urban sociologist was entirely new. Word count: 986.

I set out the door with the conscious goal of taking 'the most typical neighborhood walk,' feeling more self-aware than usual. While fully enjoying my own innocent nature, I also harbored the expectation that I might exhibit a mysterious observational skill I hadn’t known I possessed. After all, my profession involves observation. The skills I use to observe dogs could surely be applied to observing my own behavior and, I am confident, to observing our neighborhood as well. Whenever I made unwelcome remarks to friends, didn’t they always say, 'You have excellent observational skills'?

So when I returned home, I was quite satisfied with myself and with this walk. I was confident that I had taken in everything important in our neighborhood. I didn’t let a single car pass by unnoticed and cast my eyes on every building. I even knew the names of the street trees I had glanced over today. I stared intently at passersby, observed a brave little squirrel, and watched the behavior of a hairy caterpillar. Having looked at everything so consciously, how could I have missed anything?

However, as I will describe later, this walk had its limitations. It turned out I was missing almost everything. After finishing walks with eleven others, I let out a delighted exclamation but also realized the limits of my ordinary perspective and felt humbled. The consolation is that my shortcomings are a deeply human trait. We see, but we do not truly observe. We use our eyes, but we judge lightly and pass by the objects our gaze touches. We see symbols but not their meanings. It’s not that others fail to see us, but that we ourselves fail to see. In other words, what I lacked was concentration. The problem was simply that I did not focus enough. Paying attention may seem simple, but the ways to do so vary greatly. Children have all been told by teachers or parents to concentrate, but no one teaches them how to concentrate.

－Alexandra Horowitz, How to Be a Dog, translated by Park Dasom, Lion Books, 18,800 KRW