Alexandra Horowitz's essay talks about how she would walk her dog around the same block every day but she never paid attention to her surroundings while doing so. She mentions that when a person moves to a new house their senses are alert and they notice all the details about the place. However, when they have lived in the same place for some time, they stop paying attention to such details. I believe this is because, when something is new to us we tend to be more curious and purposely pay attention to the details in order to discover what is unknown to us. Once we have discovered this we feel like there's no reason to keep paying attention, since we already know what we will find if we do. The essay suggests that the problem with this is that things change and that since we can't pay attention to all of our surroundings at once we might find new things every time we take that walk. "In this way, the familiar becomes unfamiliar, and the old the new." I believe it is important to pay attention while taking a walk. Nowadays, there is always a possibility that a person might be watching us to cause us harm. This is why one should always be attentive to their surroundings while out in public. While out on a walk, however, this can be difficult, since most people who take walks do so to reduce stress after a long day at work. People normally use this time to think about their lives and meditate. If walking a dog, one must also pay attention to what their dog is doing. These things make it a little harder to pay attention to the block area where they are walking. Another thing to consider is that the author of this essay lives in New York City, a place full of different types of people, restaurants, stores, taxis, among other things. This would make her walk a lot more interesting than walking in the same neighborhood where I have lived for over 15 years. In New York City, it is unlikely that the author will see the same person every day. In my neighborhood, on the other hand, it is unlikely that I will see a different person every day. This also adds to the reason why many people zone out during their walks; not much will be different from the day before or even the day before that. In my neighborhood, for example, I would probably see the same neighbors chatting in front of their house, the same neighbor walking his dog at the same time, and the same people coming home from work in the same car at the same time every single day. The only time this varies is on weekends when most neighbors either go out or host get-togethers at their house.
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