Monday, April 19, 2010
Trains, Subways, and Feet
Today I spent the day in New York City with some friends who are visiting from Austin, Texas. My friend Kaye is someone I've actually only met once when I was traveling through Colorado a couple of years ago, but is the type of person you only have to meet once and then you never forget them. Kaye, her husband Chris, and her sister as well, are in NY for the week, and since I had the day off today I thought it was the perfect oppurtunity to visit.
I took the NJ transit train up to Penn station and then from there took the subway to greenwich village to meet up with Kaye and co. I arrived early and they arrived late so I had about an hour to sit in Washington square park, soak up the sunshine, and people watch in one of the best places on earth to do so. With such a diverse group of people in NYC I could have sat there for hours and watched them walk by.
Throughout the day we walked through the village, china town, SoHo, little Italy, the waterfront, and stopped in a couple of parks as well. We even got to sit in a very packed park and eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches that Kaye had brought along all the while watching a vast number of chinese people play all different kinds of board and card games in the park which seemed to be the hub of china town.
It was a really great day all around. I got to catch up with Kaye, talk about her pregnancy, talk about what God has been teaching us over the past couple of years, got to know her husband Chris and her sister, and really just soak up the company.
The way home was a bit tricky, at this point we were in little Italy and I had to take a couple of subways (one wrong one) in order to get back to Penn station where I would then have to purchase my return ticket home for the train. After about an hour in subway time I was at Penn station, had purchased my ticket, and was then approached by a 20 something homeless man asking for some food. I didnt have any on me and so offered to buy him something at one of the many food places within penn station. He agreed and so off we went to pick out his Turkey and cheese sandwich. I asked him his name and as he answered me I noticed this look on his face that seemed to convey that he hadnt been asked that question in quite some time. It was almost a look of shock, as if he had forgotten he had a name. It really hit me hard. As I ran down the platform to catch the train that I would in fact be too late for I began to think about all the homeless I had encountered that day in the city. What are their stories, what are their names, who is wandering where they are, what do they think of themselves, and do they find any sort of identity in anything anymore or only an identity through the way people treat them, or dont treat them?
My train finally came at about 4:30pm and once I found my seat, I laid my head against the window and shut my eyes. About ten minutes later I awoke to the smell of oranges and as I opened my eyes I saw a man sitting next to me in the act of peeling the rind off of the citrus fruit. As he turned to me I mustered up a warm "Hello" and he handed me a piece of orange, which I accepted. It was a very unique interaction between two strangers but it opened the door to conversation. He asked me where I was going and where I was from. I answered and followed by asking him his name. " George Ibrahim" was his reply. We continued this way for a while, asking all the ordinary questions that pass between to individuals just getting to know one another. I was excited to learn that George was from Egypt and was a devout Christian. From that point on during the train ride we spoke of nothing other than the bible and our personal relationships with Jesus. It was insightful, inspiring, encouraging, and challenging. At the end of the trip I walked outside with George so that I could meet his wife, who was picking him up at the station. After exchanging phone numbers and saying that we should all have dinner together one night, I walked away towards the parking garage in awe of what had just occured.
Just to think, if I had sat even a few rows away I may have sat with someone completely different. To think that if I hadnt gone to Colorado a few years back when Kaye was living there instead of Austin, where she lives now, I never would have gone to NYC today in the first place to visit with her. To think of all the twists and turns of life that bring us to where we are right in this moment is absolutely mind boggling. To think of all of this and to not be grateful to God is insanity. So I end this blog with a "Thank you God for all the intricacies of life and for all the miraculous details that you choreograph around us and through us, thank you thank you thank you!"
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