Finding Alaska in the City

Having had a fair amount of time away from the city, I am seeing it in a new way, seeing the things that are less desirable about it.  It's hard to get away from people, hard to find the time to hike a trail, hard to take time away from computer activities or to get outside.  And then there is the balance of workers in NYC, the people that sweep up the prepared salad that I spilled on the street, the doorman that delivers my packages to my apartment.  It's a strange irony that progressive liberals are the ones that benefit the most from lower-paid workers.  In Alaska, everyone does what they need done.  No outsourcing of cleaning, food delivery, childcare.  Perhaps you might need to hire someone to pave your private road because you don't own the necessary machinery or skills, but that's a different sort of outsourcing.  The elitism of New York City, is not one of it's finer points.  Nor is its push to make everyone work work work.  We become little cogs in someone else's scheme, regardless of our status.  Alaska, so free!!!

My brush with nature today was a run through Central Park.  It was covered in picnics and strollers, children, families, older people, anyone hoping to take advantage of the incredible weather and a day off from work.  And there was something nice about that, too.  The challenge wasn't bears or slippery tree roots, but slow walking people holding phones or ice cream and piles of garbage stacked against the curbs.

New challenges, and still a good way to live, but the magic of New York as the place to be has worn off.  What does one need to survive or to thrive?  There are so many answers to that, so many ways to live that are valid and rewarding and beautiful.  And as much as I loved the openness, it would be foolish to ignore that that quality still exists in the closed space that surrounds me, to to shut out the possibility of enhancing it here.  Of what does it consist?  Time to talk to others, courtesy of space for others, strength in establishing my own limits and needs so that I may be more giving.