Front Porch: Walker helps with mobility - and renews faith in humanity

I have been moving about lately using a walker. It’s temporary, I hope, but it is very much an asset for now. And, I must say, my view of the world from behind the little wheeled device has changed considerably.

Not that people aren’t kind to one another in general in a day-to-day sort of way – holding the door for the next guy, picking up a dropped item for a stranger, etc. – but the world of infinite kindness just explodes into bloom when you’re navigating this assistive device.

So, brief background – I had hip replacement surgery six months ago and was progressing pretty much on schedule, until I wasn’t. My incision didn’t want to heal properly, and I began going in the wrong direction strength-wise, balance-wise and otherwise (including increased pain). Working on all of those things now, and my doctor wants me to use the walker while the therapies are in play.

It’s not a fancy walker, not the kind with four wheels, a seat and basket, all in a variety of colors. No, it’s just the plain old fold-up aluminum walker, with two wheels up front and two ski-like fittings on the bottom of the back legs.

I don’t use it in the house, just when I go out. At the grocery store, I rely on the shopping cart, so the whole mobility change-up is not terribly inconveniencing.

What I am seeing in people is their anticipation of what might be my needs as I approach. Often people behind me will scoot ahead to grab the door to the building, or look out the elevator door to hold the door longer than they might otherwise for someone who is approaching but still has a ways to go.

They are not only being kind and generous, they are engaging in forethought.

For example (one among many) – the other day I parked out on the street in front of Deaconess Hospital to go to an appointment at the wound clinic inside. I was standing by the driver-side door (wide street, hardly any traffic coming by), and taking my walker out from the back seat, making sure I had my wallet in my pocket and phone in the other pocket and that everything was in place (I don’t carry a purse, so these checks are advisable before leaving my car).

From the corner of my eye, I saw a man and woman walking along the sidewalk. The next thing I knew, the man had come around my car and asked me if I needed any help. I told him I was fine and just getting myself adjusted. Off he went, as did I .

Now there is a part of me that worries, do I look so feeble and pathetic than I need rescuing? But my better angels just tell me that people are basically kind and to leave it at that.

I have also learned to ask for help when needed. At Costco, if I’ve got a bunch of bulky or heavy items, I ask one of the nice men or women in the orange vests to load my car for me. They do, and, I must say, cheerfully.

We were in Seattle last week when, just after sunrise, the fire alarm in our hotel went off. People began streaming out of the building as fire trucks and police arrived. We threw on some outdoor clothing and made our way down the stairwell from the fourth floor – me gripping the banister and Bruce carrying the fold-up walker. As we arrived at the first floor, the alarm had ceased its screeching, and people began coming back in. The building had been OK’d by the fire department. So, back up we went again.

When it was time to check out, the elevators were still offline, and since we had a bunch of things to tote, a wheeled luggage cart was not going to work out. As we tried to maneuver ourselves to the stairwell again with everything, a hotel employee came across us and helped us down, Likely he would have done that for anyone with too much stuff to carry, but an old lady pushing a walker definitely caught his attention.

While I was in the lobby checking out and Bruce was walking down the ramp to the parking garage below, the alarm went off again. I didn’t know if Bruce would be able to get out of the garage with the car (and he didn’t have his phone on him), so as people started streaming out of the building again, I managed to snag a chair by the front entrance and waited. Happily, Bruce and Subaru arrived in due course, and we departed – which has nothing to do with the walker, but it does complete the hotel evacuation story. (So glad this didn’t happen when we were vacationing in Las Vegas in February, staying on the 29th floor of a hotel there!)

I am hoping that I’ll be independently bipedal before too long, but, I must say, seeing an old lady moving about in the world with a walker does seem to bring out the best in people. How nice to be the recipient of such care, concern and courtesy … but sorry I have to stump along thusly for a while.

What with everything going on in the world these days, and my increasing disappointment in the behaviors of so many of us regarding our politics, various religions, governments and overall respect for one another – this has given me a bit of renewed faith in mankind, even though it’s just on a one-on-one basis.

But kindness is still within us. All it took was an aluminum walker to bring it out in all its glory and for me to see it.

Voices correspondent Stefanie Pettit can be reached by e-mail at upwindsailor@comcast.net.