Heartbeat of a city: New York, New York: photos show Times Square and Central Park: classic American wonders
Deviating from my ongoing retelling of childhood memories, I'd like to insert a miscellaneous entry here: "heartbeat of a city."A special Native American person in my life spoke to me often about "the heartbeat of the earth." He saw the vibrancy in, say, a leaf dancing on a twig when there was no wind. He and I witnessed that phenomenon quite a few times! I haven't stopped to notice whether this happens when he is not with me. One lone little leaf will just start dancing back and forth . . no others near it doing the same thing . . . and we cannot detect any breeze at all. As the Psalmist said, "The trees of the field will clap their hands" in praise of the living God.
As someone who was born in, and grew up in, a city, I also detect a "heartbeat of a city" sometimes. It can be hard to put my finger on just what that is and where it comes from. After all, isn't a city just a random collection of individuals who happened to go there or be born there? Maybe. Maybe not.
I recently spent a week in New York City and very definitely experienced its heartbeat, at least a little bit. It seems to me to be a city of lovers. Dreamers. Dancers. Fortune chasers. Humble hearts and proud ones.
All the tall buildings around lend an air of "looking upward" to the whole place that is different than what happens when one just looks up at clouds. I guess each building and area of the city contains the cumulative effects of many dreamers and fortune chasers of eras gone by . . . and their legacy worms its way into people's way of thinking and being.
More on this topic later. I've just scratched the surface of what I'm trying to say.
(Please note: The photos used for this blog entry were taken by a friend of a friend on Facebook. She graciously agreed to let me use them, with no name attribution necessary. Thank you, if you ever see this!)
4 comments:
It's good to know that the multitudes of people walking around hand in hand, arm in arm, etc. (and all the rest of your categories) didn't go unnoticed by others in our little group.
Don't forget the dancing! Consider the following: the Jewish dancers at the menorah lighting at Lincoln Center square; the dancers in "Grease," and the street break dancers. And one might consider the procession of clergy at the Christmas Eve service to have an element of "dance" to it, with the swinging incense balls, etc.
Oof, those things made me want to choke. That incense was not especially pleasant. Anybody know what the scent was representing?
The incense represents prayers (going from the people "up" to God.) It's not typical of most church services! It's considered a sign of "high church" worship -- i.e., stodgy (my analysis).
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