Following a script

According to a 2017 Stanford University study, the average American walks about 4,774 steps daily. That’s fewer than people in China walk—6,189 steps per day—but it still means the 330 million Americans collectively take around 1.6 trillion steps a day. Some are productive, some are playful, and some are merely ceremonial.

The U.S. Capitol witnessed ceremonial steps on Jan. 15. Members of the House of Representatives walked across the Capitol Building to announce the delivery of the articles of President Donald Trump’s impeachment. With solemn faces, seven House Democrats chosen as impeachment managers paraded through the Capitol rotunda to the Senate. The following day, the same seven made the same trip, this time carrying blue folders as they walked, the sound of their shoes striking the floor and the rapid shutter clicks of reporters’ cameras reverberating in the halls.

The following week, Democrats laid out their case for impeachment, but in the absence of any bombshells, it all seemed as scripted as a ceremony 5,000 miles to the east, where Russian lawmakers approved constitutional changes that will likely extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule even after his current term ends in 2024. This came a week after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his entire Cabinet walked out—a move that also seemed targeted toward securing Putin’s rule. Putin is Russia’s longest-ruling leader since Josef Stalin.

In China, the outbreak of a mysterious pneumonia-like coronavirus kept at least 25 million people cooped up during the Lunar New Year—generally a big travel season for the country. The virus, which appeared at a seafood market in now-quarantined Wuhan, spread to nearly 6,000 people and killed at least 132 by Jan. 28. As the deadly virus spread geographically, the shutdown affected China’s already-troubled economy: Fears of contracting the virus have squelched the Chinese film industry during its biggest money-making season.

A Chinese woman puts a protective mask on a young girl as they tour the grounds of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing during the Chinese New Year and Spring Festival holiday. Ting Shen/Xinhua via Getty Images

As the coronavirus death toll rose, Hollywood watched the fall of film producer Harvey Weinstein, whose trial began in New York on Jan. 22. The 67-year-old man stepped into the courthouse without the aid of the walker he had pushed during the jury selection process. But the walker with the yellow tennis balls made a reappearance as Weinstein shuffled out following the opening statements. His team said the walker is necessary since he’s recovering from back surgery, but accusers sensed a ploy to present himself as a pitiful old man—a weak defense against the 80 accusations of sexual misconduct that helped kick-start the #MeToo movement in 2017.

Just days earlier, on Jan. 18, some of Weinstein’s accusers spoke at the Los Angeles Women’s March. Other marches occurred in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. The Women’s March started in 2017 as a reaction to Donald Trump’s inauguration. Weinstein accuser Rosanna Arquette told the magazine Variety, “We are not going to stop. No matter how much you try to shut down our voices. It’s like a whack-a-mole. There will just be more and more.” But numbers dwindled this year. In 2017, an estimated 3 million to 5 million walkers turned out nationwide, and nearly 500,000 of those were in Washington, D.C. This year, only around 10,000 marched in Washington.

That was probably only one-tenth the size of the huge crowd that walked through the capital city a week later for the 47th annual March for Life. President Trump became the first sitting president to speak at the pro-life rally. Other Republican presidents had phoned in their weak regards, inching forward as if on a tightrope, but pro-lifers cheered as Trump touted his specific pro-life presidential actions and celebrated “the majesty of God’s creation” in the unborn. After 47 years of legalized abortion, these marchers hope for an overturn of Roe v. Wade during the next several years—but the Christians among them knew they would have to continue walking by faith, not by sight.

Two days after pro-lifers remembered the deaths of millions killed in abortion, basketball fans mourned Kobe Bryant, who died with his daughter and seven others in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26. At age 17, Bryant became the first guard to go directly from high school to the NBA. He ranks fourth on the NBA’s list of all-time leading scorers. After his basketball career, fans looked forward to all Bryant planned to do off the court. Now they mourn in shock at his unexpected death. But it serves as a reminder that, despite human plans, it’s God who establishes our steps.