Some of RJ's Rantings, Writings and Reflections ...



Thursday Meditation 15/11/2012, From Mark 13

In Mark 13, we read ...
As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him,

"Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!"
Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great buildings?
Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down."

Two weeks ago yesterday, I arrived in new York for a conference on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.

I spent a couple of days in tourist buses and museums, and said to myself and in postcards home, " ... what large buildings!" I didn't have thoughts then of anything being "thrown down".

The conference went OK, and finished on Sunday afternoon.

I had more walking around, admiring art galleries and skyscrapers, and returned to my hotel late Sunday night. The proprietor informed me that all his guests had been evacuated for the impending Hurricane Sandy, since this el-cheapo hotel at Chelsea, was near the waterline there. He gave me some addresses of homeless shelters, and I trudged out with my luggage and located a refuge in a higher part of town.

I joined people who were homeless or Storm Refugees, three levels underground. There were all sorts of people, with hundreds of children and many dogs and cats and budgerigars in cages.

Sunday night was OK. I was offered a blanket by the New York Ports Authority, and set up home next to a middle-aged lady reading the New York Times, who turned out to be a professional writer with a huge knowledge of the publishing industry, but homeless due to some undisclosed criminal problem.

I also made friends with a young fellow who had no food or blankets etc, but just his guitar and the complete anthology of Beatles sheet music. He also seems to know by heart the complete text of the recent publication "Conversations with God", which I've been listening to on cassette, and the links to Greek mythology. Homeless because, as he said, he could never keep a job because he couldn't get to work on time. Over the three days, I had marvelous conversations with extraordinary people there.

On Monday, the weather became squally, trains and buses were closed down, and the city prepared for the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy. We were overcrowded and the management wanted to shift some of us to another shelter. However, as that bus load were leaving, their destination was made inaccessible by a crane that collapsed on the 75th floor of a building there, so they had to come back.

After midnight, the lights in our shelter went out out. Children, who had never been exposed to complete darkness, were screaming and crying, and the emergency generator came on, giving us some dim light. Then it cut out, and we were lit by a few lamps etc. Then water started pouring through the roof (three levels underground), and the emotional environment deteriorated - it was a difficult night.

In the morning I climbed up to street level amongst the wreckage. This area was not flooded, but there was lots of damage and debris. I spent the day wandering around, and returned to the shelter for the third night. My companion was becoming more fearful, revealing that "they" had deliberately killed the lights when she was in the toilet (sorry-Restroom), and Hillary Clinton was pursuing her.

After some hours of unusual conversations with unusual people in this unusual place, I went for another long walk about 10pm, and discovered a hotel with the door open but no electricity, which had a spare room, so I lodged there for the next five days, until I could get a flight home. The hotel without electricity cost me $400 per night, but it did have a bed and a bathroom.

Over those days, the buses and some museums etc came back to life, but not the trains. Many buildings were damaged by flood or wind, many had no electricity, and many had no staff able to get to work. Central Park was closed, filled with broken trees. However, I saw a Broadway show, as I had promised Chris I would, checked out the CIA Spy Museum, the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. All very impressive - the very symbols of our civilisation - the Citidel of Capitalism!

There were some curious ironies. After the Frankenstorm, as it was called, when walking at night, I saw a little shop brightly light by a generator, with people sitting up having their fingernails trimmed and hair cut, sipping coffee, and chamber music playing. Outside, the intersections were lit by magnesium flairs with the NYPD directing traffic, National Guard personnel carriers and Army fuel tankers in the street, sodden mattresses and broken furniture piled up and a homeless person huddled in corner of the footpath under a wet blanket.

People in my experience were businesslike, polite and friendly, filling the theatres and coffee shops, apparently in search of solice. People who lived on the 60th floor of apartments without electricity or water carried their dogs and babies down the stairs and spent the day on the streets, and up to their apartments again at night. So coffee shops and other amusements were much in demand.

On a tourist bus I encountered a couple from Gunning (near Yass), and everyone I spoke to seemed to have some connection with Australia. When wearing my "Australia" jacket, I met Ma and Pa Middle America at a cafe, who said "You must be here for the New York Marathon!". I assured them that I took this as a compliment, but No, that would be my son Adrian who's the Marathon runner!

Before leaving Canberra, I had promised my employer that I'd keep a low profile in New York, and not cause any trouble. However, by my return last Tuesday, I'd left behind a bit of a mess. I'd deprived a couple of hundred people of their lives, 10 million people of electricity, called ou the National Guard, flooded the underground trains, killed the buses, taken out the New York Stock Exchange, cancelled the New York Marathon, shifted the coastline so that the Coney Island Roller Coaster was now part of the Atlantic Ocean, moved the New Jersey coastal sandhills inland to engulf the suburbs there, destroyed hundreds of houses by fire, evacuated several hospitals, displaced hundreds of thousands of people, mobilised the National Guard, brought down the Chief of the CIA in a marital scandal, and almost toppled the Government. I'd gladly confess to these sins if I thought it would help resolve them.

In fact, President Obama and his government were praised for the speed and adequacy of their response, unlike his predecessor George Bush with Hurricane Katrina a few years. Cynics may wonder, of course, whether there's a difference in the visibility and status of New York City compared with racially distinct, poor, and flood-prone districts of New Orleans ...

Following the hurricane, I felt rather guilty wandering around as a tourist (albeit a hurricane refugee), from a relatively comfortable and secure situation looking into the lives of people in real crisis. It was certainly a reminder that large stones making great buildings, do not give us real security.

I was dismayed by my failure to observe, in US Presidential debates, any mention of climate change or sustainable development.

Next week, November 22 is Thanksgiving Day. I'm sure that there will be many Sandy Survivors giving thanks for their survival, and many who are trying to be thankful in the midst of great suffering and loss.

I think that it's a pity that we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here - it could be a useful celebration even for people who are not particularly religious. The holiday's history in North America is rooted in English traditions dating from the Protestant Reformation in the reign of Henry VIII and in reaction to the large number of religious holidays on the Catholic calendar. Before 1536 there were 95 Church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, when people were required to attend church and forego work. The 1536 reforms reduced the number of Church holidays to 27, but some Puritans, the radical reformers of their age, wished to completely eliminate all Church holidays, including Christmas and Easter. Perhaps that would not be particularly popular in Australia. It's quite a commercial event of course now in the USA, but it retains strong folksy elements like turkey dinners and pumpkin pie.

When wondering about our vulnerability, I think that we really should Remember Mark 13, talking of Jesus ...

As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him,
"Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!"
Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great buildings?
Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down."

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately,
"Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?"

Then Jesus began to say to them, "Beware that no one leads you astray.
Many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and they will lead many astray.

When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed;
this must take place, but the end is still to come.
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;
there will be earthquakes; there will be famines.
This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.

Ted Holmes, inevitably, was thinking of this when he wrote, in February 2003, a poem called "Recent Disasters":

***
Let's sing of giving thanks, in Hymn 717 - Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart.

~0~

 
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