I like greenery. (I suddenly sound like the Knights who say "Ni!") No, but really, grass and trees are wonderful things. I always said that if I ended up living in Manhattan I'd have to spend all of my free time in Central Park just trying to connect with greenness.
Now I don't live in New York City, but I do work there, and there's a lovely park in the center of midtown called Bryant Park. The site has had quite a storied history, going from giant, walled reservoir to drug-infested no-man's land to handy spot of green for folks like me. Since 1992, it's been a great place to sit in the grass for a few minutes for busy midtown folks. The large lawn is surrounded by trees and patios. There is an outdoor "reading room" with books and magazines and game tables where people from all social strata play chess and checkers with each other.
On my afternoon walk from the office to Grand Central Terminal for my train home, I usually walk through the park. If it hasn't rained recently, I pay tribute to the park employees who keep the lawn nice by taking off my shoes at one end and walking barefoot on the grass (in the middle of Manhattan remember!) for as far as I can. Ahhhh.... It feels wonderful after a long day at the office to reconnect with the earth. It's nice to watch people relaxing, tanning in their undies, or at the very least going outside to work (free wifi, of course).All this blissful nature-loving humanity must pause, however, so that the world of High Fashion can do this:
Pardon your appearance???? Are you freaking kidding me???? Apparently, making NYC the Fashion Capital of the World requires that they completely destroy the park for six weeks twice a year so that they can smother the entire lawn with a gigantic temporary building and surround the park and neighboring streets with "command" trailers and deisel generators belching fumes and making noise. You have to see it to believe it:
Six weeks of this drek for one week of glitz and glamour? I think people disrepect God. (I'm sure this is a slippery slope, but I'm going to go with it anyway.) We and our natural surroundings were created as beautiful expressions of God. We don't need cosmetic surgery, high fashion, and grass-killing temporary buildings to be beautiful. I prefer women without make-up and, if it's not freezing, I prefer people without clothes. You don't have to be thin, buxom, or muscular to be beautiful. God made you pretty already. Believe it.
Every now and then, go put your bare feet on the grass, dirt, or in the water where you live. That nice feeling you get? That's just God saying "Hi."
9 comments:
Beautiful.
I like! Great post.
By the way - I live in a "Moshav" - a rural place and have my own grass which I pay someone else to mow...
Brilliant blog. Go Team Guestbloggereo!
Thank you very much. Looking forward to the next guest!
I like the way they do it in Switzerland. Any modification to a public place requires a notice to be published. If enough people sign a petition, then the requested modification has to go to a referendum. The scope of the referendum (comunale, cantonal, federal) depends on the modification. If there is a referendum, every registered member receives notification and can vote if they wish. This can slow things down, but it truly makes Switzerland one of the few true places in the world where your voice can be heard. If they did this where you live, then it doesn't matter that the Mare has decided that he prefers to get money into his own pocket over the fact that you need a few decent minutes of grass under the feet after a hard working day paying his taxes!
The one flaw in the Swiss system is that your representation as a citizen is where you have your residence. So, if you don't work near where you live, you can't make a difference. It's the same thing with public parking - usually you can get free parking in the place where you live and not where you work. This of course would have to be changed so that you can have representation in both places.
Now, if all of this could be computerized, you could imagine arriving in the office and checking your email, seeing there is a new "referendum", deciding if it interests you, then voting right away. When this happens, the Internet goes from being a pool of knowledge to being the voice of human morality and needs. Peter, what do you say, is your HiTech company up to the challenge ...?
Marc
Great rant Johno- I love NY and yes, am waiting with baited breath for blacksono's post today. I think you guest bloggers rock.
love
Jo posting from somewhere in the stormy Midlands
I think it is a known fact that Switzerland is not a 80% country.
Makes me wish Israel was more swiss...
I don't know. This all works in Switzerland, because as Patrick was fond of reminding us, "Inside every swiss there lives a little policeman".
Inside every Israeli there lives a little soldier, plumber, investment banker, neurosurgeon, electrician, motor mechanic, real estate agent etc. etc all fighting to be heard. They just are all not so good at their jobs.
Here is a real 80% example :
In 1977, Seattle established a Sister City relationship with the desert city of Be'ersheva, Israel.
Seattle selected Atlantic City Park for renaming as Be'ersheva Park to honor that link, and to acknowledge the many Jews who had moved to the area.
This is Be'ersheva Park in Seattle :
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=47.524562&lon=-122.2648287&z=17&l=18&m=a&v=2&search=55th%20Avenue%20S%2C%20Seattle
and this is Seattle Park in Be'er Sheva :
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=31.2668408&lon=34.7987437&z=17&l=18&m=a&v=2
I think it worth 80% or maybe less !!!
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