I wanted to talk to you today about a social experiment I started back in late October called “Slow Down and Look Around”. It all began when I noticed how fast people were walking in parking lots, shopping centers and malls. I wasn’t sure if there was some kind of contest to see who could get to where they were going the fastest. If it was a contest what was the prize I thought? So coming out of my local grocery store one night I just walked very slow about 1 step a second and was fascinated by the looks I got from the people around me. As I got in my car I thought other than getting strange looks from people what else would I notice by slowing down. So I decided for the next 3 months I would walk as slow as possible every time I get out of my car, or was in the grocery store, Dunkin Donuts, the bank and post office. The results changed my way of thinking.
First there was Dunkin Donuts. When I got out of my car Day 1 I immediately noticed a guy [that I had seen for several days] standing outside smoking a cigarette. No big deal but as I slowly walked near him I noticed that he was trying to smell the hair of the high school girls that had just walked by him. That was some creepy shit so I just walked up next to him real slow and looked right at him and said “really”. He asked if I was cop and then got in his car and I never saw the creepy shit again. I knew at that point that I was onto something. For the next several weeks I continued the slow walking and I quickly realized that I was so much more aware of what was going on around me.
I really didn’t think that anybody noticed my slow walk but then a friend of mine said “you walk like you got nowhere to go what is up with that?” I told him about the experiment and he just looked at me like I was nuts. Then just before Thanksgiving I was coming out of the bank and as I stepped off the curb I looked down to see someone’s bank card leaning against the curb. I picked it up and brought it into the bank and gave it the manager. I never would have noticed the card if I was walking at my normal speed racer pace. So just maybe I saved someone the hassle of having to replace their bank card.
I do have to say that of all of my encounters my favorite was at the local Stop n Shop. One night I was walking particularly slow past the customer service desk and overheard a women yelling at the “kid” behind the counter over the date on her yogurt. I was just going to walk by but she just wouldn’t stop and the “kid” was trying to give her a new yogurt and she wouldn’t hear of it. So I walked next to her inline and said “you know it’s just a yogurt right?” She quickly told me to mind my own business and all I said was “it’s still just a yogurt” and you are yelling at kid that could be your son. She looked at me and told me to “fuck off” and marched out of the store. That is how I met young John who could not stop thanking me for my help. Now every time I see John I get a big smile and how are you doing tonight Bill? That is someone I never would have met if I wasn’t on my slow walk to nowhere.
Those are just 3 quick examples of how slowing down and looking around changed my way of approaching people and thinking. I would also like to think that I made difference whether it was running off a creep, getting a bank card back to its owner or helping John do his job at Stop n Shop. The experiment maybe over but I am still walking like I have nowhere to go and I find that I am better off and I don’t miss the speed walking. By the way there is no prize for getting to your car faster than the guy in front of you, I asked the Publisher Clearing House Prize Patrol. Slowing down has a lot of benefits who knows what you might discover by trying your own social experiment. Maybe just maybe you might be part of making America Great Again!