Here is a thought that always comes to me whenever I walk or run down paved streets with blocks or asphalt.
Apart from five oceans, the earth is covered with soil. The earth would feel stuffy, unable to breathe in the area we covered with blocks and asphalt.
Of course, pollution like fine dust or wastes is a serious problem, yet somewhat hidden from our eyes. The first visible problem when I get out is asphalt covering streets in a city. Asphalt, stones or blocks are everywhere on alleys in a city.
The Earth keeps changing with the advance of human civilization and it would not be easy to turn back to what it was, and we tend to keep following the path.
I worry about the earth when I am outside, yet in reality, I worry about my high heels getting stuck in brick pavements in front of my house. Whenever I wear new shoes, they get stuck and hurt.
In the US, you don’t walk and usually drive (except in New York). In Japan which is similar to Korea, people walk a lot.
I walked a lot when I was in Kyoto, as I did in Tokyo. Between my place and Doshisha University and in several places in downtown, streets were paved with stones or bricks. The pavement was neat and precise. The color and shape were comfortable to look at and easy to walk on. My shoes didn’t get hurt walking on the paved street and I sometimes forgot about the earth’s suffering.
Many years ago, journalist Jeong Sunwoo who was a Tokyo correspondent paid a brief visit to Seoul and wrote a piece comparing pavements in Tokyo and Seoul. I admired the article because his idea was brilliant. I don’t remember the whole story, but I know that he tried to compare the difference of the two countries with the example of the difference in artisan spirit of the street pavement.
And not just the pavements, I once stopped and watched for a while that they prune street trees in Kyoto, because I saw how they put their heart and soul into it. I am sure their skill and tradition have a long history. Maybe they do these things from generation to generation as a family business.
Way before, when we were very young, we wanted to be a President or a 4 Star General in the future, and things have changed now of course, but still, not many want to be a street tree's pruner or brick layer for their future job.
In Seoul I hear that when cities have budget left at the end of a year, they spend the money on paving streets. I always have expectations whenever they start to pave streets, yet I am always disappointed as the shape or color are not right and pavements are not even, I can see the future that my heels getting stuck in them.
In Seochon which means west village of the Palace, there are many old hanok (traditional Korean house) and old narrow alleys which add to Seochon’s charm, yet they paved new big stones recently in the old narrow alleys. The newly paved street don’t go well together and not too classy, I was disappointed again.
There are paved bricks with several unnoticeable yet harmonious colors or paved stones which would have cost more,and the design looks like the job would have required a lot of care, in old areas of Kyoto. I automatically correct my posture whenever I tread on those stones.
In Higashiyama, a classy neighborhood with a long history, stones which look hundreds of years old are paved, I am smelling the history with my whole body. There are historical round stones on the street in Europe as well, but they are not even and not comfortable to keep walking on.
Whatever we do with street will make the Earth stuffy. Yet, if we are going to pave streets, we should do it, harmonious and fragrant with art, so that blocks are easy to walk on, then the steps I take would become lighter.
