Emily and her breakfast companion Ryan and I had a brief but lovely interaction this morning as I made my way through another of Portland’s unique neighborhoods. I couldn’t resist photographing Emily’s hat to post tonight.
A little later on, I walked past this trash can with the holes on the top. Inside the holes were empty drink cans. What I love about the trash can is that the holes are for people to put their recyclables in; a relatively simple opportunity to help reduce the amount of garbage going into the landfills.
About a block later, I saw this structure that had been built as a place for folks to leave small things they no longer have a use for, and for people to come and take items they might need; a rather simple way to help members of the community.
For me, each of these things represents a conscious action to help either the planet or our fellow human beings, which makes my heart feel Peaceful.
In many neighborhoods, there are signs supporting the rights of all people. They range from single, strong statements such as “Black Lives Matter”, to powerful statements in multiple languages like this one.
For this Peace Walker, today’s trek had many opportunities to think about the ways in which we can be of service to one another and to our planet, which filled me with gratitude.
I must say, it felt good to be Walking today, until the temperature rose to triple digits. At that point, Chandler and I were happy to have a place to stop for the night.