a parable on every corner

perhaps this identification of common ground is where the hope and the solutions lie…

(This parable is not really about NYC or cars. It’s about developing eyes to see the difference between servitude and liberty.)

There’s a very weird and disturbing dynamic that occurs on every Manhattan street corner, every minute of every day, yet few people even notice it.

By simply watching the typical New York City pedestrian when he or she reaches the corner at a red light, you get a pretty good idea of what it’s like to deal with an overcrowded, rancorous metropolitan area on a daily basis.

No one waits on the sidewalk.

Even if dozens of cars, trucks, and bicycles are racing by them at illegal speeds, practically every single New Yorker insists on stepping out into the street a few steps while waiting for the light to change. They’ll even go as far as squeezing themselves past other impatient street-crossers just to get to the front of the pack.

Whenever I’m in “the city,” I stand on the sidewalk and watch this little drama with a blend of interest and sadness.

We are so hyped up, so overstressed, so programmed to do everything fast that we can’t even endure waiting 30 seconds for a traffic light. Thus, we risk bodily harm — and maybe even death — by stepping off the curb in order to get a head start on the green light.

This way, when the light changes, the pedestrian at the front of the pack might get to the other side of the street a full five seconds before someone more patient.

What’s the hurry? You’d imagine that they were headed somewhere they wanted to be. Nope, they’re almost all going to work.

Eight hours (at least) in a soul-draining job, and they’re in a hurry to be there — so much of a hurry that they’ll risk injury to arrive as soon as possible.

And there’s more. You think you’re free if you live in America? Well, try walking down your average city street, Patrick Henry. Eventually, you’ll hit a red light.

At that point, my freedom-minded friend, you are no longer at liberty to continue walking. You must stop or risk becoming one with an SUV’s front grill.

Then again, even if you don’t wanna cross the street at the corner, you’ll still have to make a 90-degree turn. Thanks to cities being laid out in a grid, I’m forever walking at right angles.

I’m not free to meander in asymmetrical figure eights — no matter how much I’d like to.

The State, in its insatiable desire to serve its corporate/banking masters, has consciously constructed a system that favors capital and commerce over humanity’s basic needs.

We now mistake longer chains and bigger cages for “freedom.”

Meanwhile, even the greedy humans who run the corporations don’t win. They’re also stuck on a polluted, perverted, and paved planet.

Perhaps this identification of common ground is where the hope and the solutions lie…

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P.S. Some recent photos from The Church of St. Vincent Ferrer on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and some nearby sections of Central Park:

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Cheerful Giver - NYC now has its own website!

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