I've mentioned on more than one occasion how much I love being in Central Park, and particularly Sheep Meadow. There's something about being there that brings me great comfort. The escape from the apartment, perhaps, or being around other people, and allowing my mind to dwell on the sound of the birds or the people playing games, or the smell of the hyacinth. It's comforting.
This tiny little boy wandered by me earlier today and we had a conversation about how he was climbing on the rock. I should probably explain that, because the city had been hit with so much rain lately, much of Sheep Meadow was unfit for sitting on unless you had a blanket or something, and as I was without, I chose to sit on one of the large boulders that are strewn at the corners of the meadow. Then he went off and discovered a big (well, to him anyway) puddle in a depression on the boulder. He felt the need to stomp in it, which of course led him to every other puddle he could find. After a while he came back to proudly show me how soaked he'd gotten. During all this, I was sitting there wondering where his family was... why they were letting him hang around a complete stranger. None of the groups of people around me were obviously watching him. Eventually, though, a guy from a small group a good 30 or so yards away came after him.
Eventually the little boy's family came over to the boulder and started playing with him, so I picked up and moved on. I'd decided that I wanted to go and find the Dellacorte Theater so that I'd know precisely where I was going when I went to catch Measure for Measure at Shakespeare in the Park. But first I decided I wanted to stop and hang out by the John Lennon memorial at 72nd Street. I was looking for a little comfort and peace and instead I found a large crowd of people, with a candle burning on the memorial and gay pride rememberances arranged around it.
There was a woman on a bench near me on a diatribe about the injustices of the world. She was going on and on at this nice elderly eastern European couple who were just trying to be pleasant to her. She started telling this story about how some guy had called her Asian husband gay, and the man made the mistake of asking her if he was actually gay. This woman just went off on him and stormed off, then came back and went off a little more. If I were in a less generous mood, I'd just say she was flat-out unhinged. But all I could think about was this program I was watching on PBS yesterday, in which a Dr. Wayne Dyer was talking to people about getting what you really want... inevitably, his conversation turned to how getting what you want has a lot to do with knowing what's important. He used this great metaphor for people: What, he asked, comes out of an orange when you squeeze it? Orange juice, of course.
Why? Because that's what's inside an orange. And what, he then asked, comes out of you when people squeeze you? Whatever's inside you. If you have anger (as this woman clearly did), or fear or shame or whatever inside you, then clearly that's what's going to come out. His point was that no one can hurt you with their words, or humiliate you, without your permission. If you cultivate peace within yourself, that's what's going to come out when you're squeezed. I really liked that sentiment.
He also said something very interesting that I had never realized before; that every major religion has the mechanism within it for us to get beyond the sins of our past, or the wrongs done to us, and let us live for now, and get on with our lives.
I like that thought. I wish that certain members of my family had discovered it earlier in their lives.
This tiny little boy wandered by me earlier today and we had a conversation about how he was climbing on the rock. I should probably explain that, because the city had been hit with so much rain lately, much of Sheep Meadow was unfit for sitting on unless you had a blanket or something, and as I was without, I chose to sit on one of the large boulders that are strewn at the corners of the meadow. Then he went off and discovered a big (well, to him anyway) puddle in a depression on the boulder. He felt the need to stomp in it, which of course led him to every other puddle he could find. After a while he came back to proudly show me how soaked he'd gotten. During all this, I was sitting there wondering where his family was... why they were letting him hang around a complete stranger. None of the groups of people around me were obviously watching him. Eventually, though, a guy from a small group a good 30 or so yards away came after him.Eventually the little boy's family came over to the boulder and started playing with him, so I picked up and moved on. I'd decided that I wanted to go and find the Dellacorte Theater so that I'd know precisely where I was going when I went to catch Measure for Measure at Shakespeare in the Park. But first I decided I wanted to stop and hang out by the John Lennon memorial at 72nd Street. I was looking for a little comfort and peace and instead I found a large crowd of people, with a candle burning on the memorial and gay pride rememberances arranged around it.
There was a woman on a bench near me on a diatribe about the injustices of the world. She was going on and on at this nice elderly eastern European couple who were just trying to be pleasant to her. She started telling this story about how some guy had called her Asian husband gay, and the man made the mistake of asking her if he was actually gay. This woman just went off on him and stormed off, then came back and went off a little more. If I were in a less generous mood, I'd just say she was flat-out unhinged. But all I could think about was this program I was watching on PBS yesterday, in which a Dr. Wayne Dyer was talking to people about getting what you really want... inevitably, his conversation turned to how getting what you want has a lot to do with knowing what's important. He used this great metaphor for people: What, he asked, comes out of an orange when you squeeze it? Orange juice, of course.
Why? Because that's what's inside an orange. And what, he then asked, comes out of you when people squeeze you? Whatever's inside you. If you have anger (as this woman clearly did), or fear or shame or whatever inside you, then clearly that's what's going to come out. His point was that no one can hurt you with their words, or humiliate you, without your permission. If you cultivate peace within yourself, that's what's going to come out when you're squeezed. I really liked that sentiment.He also said something very interesting that I had never realized before; that every major religion has the mechanism within it for us to get beyond the sins of our past, or the wrongs done to us, and let us live for now, and get on with our lives.
I like that thought. I wish that certain members of my family had discovered it earlier in their lives.
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