Recently watched The World Before Your Feet, it’s a documentary film directed by Jeremy Workman and executive produced by Jesse Eisenberg . The film follows Matthew Green on his quest to walk every street, park, and beach in the five boroughs of New York city.
Matthew has been doing this for years, and has walked more than 9,000 miles of NYC streets. This is just what he does. Everyday he walks his city, talks with people he meets, stops to take photos of things he notices, all the while trying to be present to his city. He often invests significant time researching the stories of the the things he encounters along the way, occasionally blogging about his findings or his experience of his city. He appears thoughtful, open, and personable. And he speaks with the wisdom of someone who has honed the skills observing the world at a human pace of about 3 miles per hour.
Matthew had been a civil engineer, when at the age of 31 he quit his job to walk across America. That was his first long walk; from Rockaway Beach in Queens NY to Rockaway Beach in Oregon. And now he walks his city.
If you’re at all interested you can follow his journey on his blog called “ImJustWalkin.”
His commitment to walking is really compelling. Everyday rain or shine… living on about $15 he puts one foot in front of the other and has since 2011(?). I thoroughly enjoyed watching this documentary. I felt inspired by his delight in discovering what it means for him present on the streets of his city. I was drawn in by the seemingly effortless way he encountered an engaged people, yet at the same time I was also aware that his commitment to walking seems to have placed serious strain, or even ruptured some of his closest interpersonal relationships.
As compelling as the story is, walking a city like this is kind of isolating. But I am inspired.
I would like to walk every street and every park within my neighborhood. I’ve never done that! It seems like a beautiful thing to walk every street of Lake Hills. I generally like to think that I know my parish pretty well, but I bet methodically walking every street, path, and park would open up new vistas of understanding and love for the world before my feet.
Here’s the trailer for the movie.
Peace, dwight
