In November 2000, I had a chance to visit Manhattan. It was for work, and no one else wanted to go. I was thrilled at the chance to spend what amounted to a week in New York City, on the company tab. They put me up in a Madison Avenue hotel, right below Rockefeller Square. While I was there, all the Christmas decorations were put up. The streets were bustling and beautiful.<\/p>\n
But I was alone.<\/p>\n
I got off the airplane in JFK and made it to the taxi line alone. Me and the cab driver talked as we drove to the hotel, and I checked in alone. My beautiful hotel room was filled with only me.<\/p>\n
I found dinner alone, and I walked to the office building where I would be working. The dark streets were lit and the tall mirrored building waited for me.<\/p>\n
It’s easy to work fast when you work alone. After I did my day’s work, I went alone through the subways and stopped to hear the street musicians play. I could stay and listen as long as I wanted.<\/p>\n
I went alone to the empire state building and looked out at all those millions of light across the sky.<\/p>\n
I went to the U.N. just to see. I went to Central park, and bought a knish, and later a hot dog.<\/p>\n
I loved Manhattan. The kinetic thought-energy was electrifying. It helped that I knew my time was limited, and I had so much I wanted to see.<\/p>\n
But it was very strange to be so alone in this huge mass of people. I wanted to strike up conversations with strangers, just to hear the sounds of my own voice, and to know that I was still there.<\/p>\n
People were streaming all around me; passing on sidewalks, sitting on the subway–people seemed to be piled up on one another like iguanas in a pet shop. I breathed the air that millions exhaled, and walked through the space their forms had blocked milliseconds before.<\/p>\n
New York is a big city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In November 2000, I had a chance to visit Manhattan. It was for work, and no one else wanted to go. I was thrilled at the chance to spend what amounted to a week in New York City, on the … Continue reading