'Every parent, wherever you live in the world, there are fears that we have for our children. What happens when we drop them off at school, what happens when they are making their way home, what happens when you are not with them. And, this particular fear, you've mentioned is part of that and, in a way, every parent is sort of dependent on the benevolence of the society around them to take care of their children. And, we get these reminders that maybe it isn't as benevolent as we would like but we are sort of helpless in the face of that and, that for me, is a call to be engaged'.
- Writer Mohsin Hamid talking to Terry Gross on Fresh Air
A big part of my advocacy work around walkability and sidewalk creation in Nashville stems from a single encounter with my children. When we first moved to the Greenhills area in 2013, we tried to walk to our local park, less than 1 mile away.
There was no sidewalk. And, no generosity from the drivers. There literally was no safe place to be on foot. We were clearly shown that Nashville did not yet have a benevolent spirit towards its pedestrians.
Learning to do on their own is a major milestone children must learn. Navigating on foot is a classic exercise in teaching this. Please, when you see pedestrians, particularly children, slow down, give them space.
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