Batman takes place in a similar setting as New York with only one noticeable difference, its called Gotham. Although Gotham has lost all hope and despair seeps in with the rise of evil the glimmer of light has not been extinguished. As Tyler and I took our journey to the Big Apple we were able to see this little glimmer of hope.
In most big cities there is an array of different kind of people. It has the richest of rich and the poorest of poor. As we walked through these sparkling streets of NYC, once in a while someone would ask you for money. At first it may be charitable to pitch in a dollar or two, but if that was done with everyone you would be broke before you even went into a shop! The hardest part in giving people money is what they will do with it. They may buy clothes, food, and find a nicer place to rest their head, which is all you can hope for. Sometimes the idea comes across that they might use this money to buy harmful things like drugs or are con artists and make a living this way. As this thought crosses the minds of pedestrians they may find themselves not as willing to give. This is where our story starts.
Tyler and I had a very busy day. It started with a bus ride in the early morning hours to ending with a bus ride in the dead of the night. We were able to pack in a weeks worth trip to New York in a day! It was unbelievable! We saw Ground Zero which basically is a big pit right now, but they are starting to build and the plans look amazing. We rode the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. We saw Wall Street, it didn’t look as bad as the newspapers describe it, and were able to see the bronze bull in Hitch.
We went to China Town and got to experience all the culture that goes on there as well as I got a very cute purse! I wanted to try a New York hot dog, but there wasn’t ever a moment that either of us were craving one. We changed our lunch route and ate at a place called Cosi. They are all over the east coast and very delicious. We passed by Grand Central Station which really is grand! Our next stop was the Rockefeller Center which is the 32 tallest building in America (which is pretty tall) and has 70 stories! The Empire State Building could be seen from not too far off and the sun made the view beautiful. The ice skaters down below (we couldn’t see them from the top unfortunately) were pretty good. I believe they would practice in the central park ice arena and then do their solos at the Rockefeller Ice Rink. We compared both skaters and that was the conclusion.
Dinner was at a very nice Italian restaurant where gourmet pizza was served. I have to say that is the all time best pizza I ever had. I’ve never liked thin crust pizza until that moment and I will forever more crave it. We went through the busy streets of Time Square and as we went through Toys ‘R’ Us it appears that they are doing great! They had a Ferris wheel inside and demos of toys everywhere. Even though they may not be doing as great in their location at The Family Center at Fort Union they may be able to pull through with their shop in Time Square.
To top off the experience in New York Tyler took me to see Phantom of the Opera! Everything about it blew me out of the water! I knew Broadway was great, but these people were amazing! They had beautiful voices and they played their part perfectly. The whole lighting and staging was very dramatic and fit quite nicely. I had heard the chandelier was awesome on the Broadway play and everyone that said anything about it was completely right (Thanks Tyler!). The night ended with a cup of hot chocolate and we were had done all that we wanted to do. By the time we started lining up for the Greyhound to catch our ride to D.C. we were spent.
After walking on my feet all day long I didn’t think I could walk one more step. This is how all of the people looked around me, exhausted and ready for sleep. If their day was anything like ours I could understand. As most of us sat their in silence a guy approached the line. He called out to everyone asking for money. This is when those thoughts start running through a persons head…what is he REALLY going to do with the money, why didn’t he plan it through if this story he is telling the truth, someone will help him out, he’ll find a way home somehow, why do I have to be the one, I am tired, exhausted and its not my responsibility. That is when the line got completely silent (because all these thoughts were running through their head). He went on to explain that he missed his bus two days prior and they wouldn’t let him transfer unless he paid $17. He said he had half of the money already and only needed seven more dollars. As he stood their waiting for anyone’s reply no one looked up…and tension was in the air. There were no more casual conversations going on as he kept standing there waiting for anyone to speak up. It felt like an eternity before he left and you could feel the line give a sigh of relief as he finally left.
People went back to their conversations and back to their ipods when he came back five minutes later. He had the same plea, all he needed was seven dollars to ride the bus and he didn’t have ANY money. The tension started to build again when all the sudden a hand reached outside the ropes of the line and a dollar was given to this man. That opened up the flood gates and more people started giving him one dollar bills. Tyler and I pitched in a dollar and when he reached seven dollars and bills were still being given he wouldn’t accept them. He said that was all he wanted and all he needed. As we rode home on the bus that night we decided there is still a little glimmer of hope in NYC (aka Gotham) and it just takes one person to open up to let other people as well. He could have taken advantage of the situation and taken more money than he needed. He could have even used the money to buy some breakfast the next day, but all he needed was that seven dollars to get going and that is all he took.
For New York City, all is not lost. There is still hope and goodness in ordinary people and it just takes a little action to prove that theory.
In most big cities there is an array of different kind of people. It has the richest of rich and the poorest of poor. As we walked through these sparkling streets of NYC, once in a while someone would ask you for money. At first it may be charitable to pitch in a dollar or two, but if that was done with everyone you would be broke before you even went into a shop! The hardest part in giving people money is what they will do with it. They may buy clothes, food, and find a nicer place to rest their head, which is all you can hope for. Sometimes the idea comes across that they might use this money to buy harmful things like drugs or are con artists and make a living this way. As this thought crosses the minds of pedestrians they may find themselves not as willing to give. This is where our story starts.
Tyler and I had a very busy day. It started with a bus ride in the early morning hours to ending with a bus ride in the dead of the night. We were able to pack in a weeks worth trip to New York in a day! It was unbelievable! We saw Ground Zero which basically is a big pit right now, but they are starting to build and the plans look amazing. We rode the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. We saw Wall Street, it didn’t look as bad as the newspapers describe it, and were able to see the bronze bull in Hitch.
We went to China Town and got to experience all the culture that goes on there as well as I got a very cute purse! I wanted to try a New York hot dog, but there wasn’t ever a moment that either of us were craving one. We changed our lunch route and ate at a place called Cosi. They are all over the east coast and very delicious. We passed by Grand Central Station which really is grand! Our next stop was the Rockefeller Center which is the 32 tallest building in America (which is pretty tall) and has 70 stories! The Empire State Building could be seen from not too far off and the sun made the view beautiful. The ice skaters down below (we couldn’t see them from the top unfortunately) were pretty good. I believe they would practice in the central park ice arena and then do their solos at the Rockefeller Ice Rink. We compared both skaters and that was the conclusion.
Dinner was at a very nice Italian restaurant where gourmet pizza was served. I have to say that is the all time best pizza I ever had. I’ve never liked thin crust pizza until that moment and I will forever more crave it. We went through the busy streets of Time Square and as we went through Toys ‘R’ Us it appears that they are doing great! They had a Ferris wheel inside and demos of toys everywhere. Even though they may not be doing as great in their location at The Family Center at Fort Union they may be able to pull through with their shop in Time Square.
To top off the experience in New York Tyler took me to see Phantom of the Opera! Everything about it blew me out of the water! I knew Broadway was great, but these people were amazing! They had beautiful voices and they played their part perfectly. The whole lighting and staging was very dramatic and fit quite nicely. I had heard the chandelier was awesome on the Broadway play and everyone that said anything about it was completely right (Thanks Tyler!). The night ended with a cup of hot chocolate and we were had done all that we wanted to do. By the time we started lining up for the Greyhound to catch our ride to D.C. we were spent.
After walking on my feet all day long I didn’t think I could walk one more step. This is how all of the people looked around me, exhausted and ready for sleep. If their day was anything like ours I could understand. As most of us sat their in silence a guy approached the line. He called out to everyone asking for money. This is when those thoughts start running through a persons head…what is he REALLY going to do with the money, why didn’t he plan it through if this story he is telling the truth, someone will help him out, he’ll find a way home somehow, why do I have to be the one, I am tired, exhausted and its not my responsibility. That is when the line got completely silent (because all these thoughts were running through their head). He went on to explain that he missed his bus two days prior and they wouldn’t let him transfer unless he paid $17. He said he had half of the money already and only needed seven more dollars. As he stood their waiting for anyone’s reply no one looked up…and tension was in the air. There were no more casual conversations going on as he kept standing there waiting for anyone to speak up. It felt like an eternity before he left and you could feel the line give a sigh of relief as he finally left.
People went back to their conversations and back to their ipods when he came back five minutes later. He had the same plea, all he needed was seven dollars to ride the bus and he didn’t have ANY money. The tension started to build again when all the sudden a hand reached outside the ropes of the line and a dollar was given to this man. That opened up the flood gates and more people started giving him one dollar bills. Tyler and I pitched in a dollar and when he reached seven dollars and bills were still being given he wouldn’t accept them. He said that was all he wanted and all he needed. As we rode home on the bus that night we decided there is still a little glimmer of hope in NYC (aka Gotham) and it just takes one person to open up to let other people as well. He could have taken advantage of the situation and taken more money than he needed. He could have even used the money to buy some breakfast the next day, but all he needed was that seven dollars to get going and that is all he took.
For New York City, all is not lost. There is still hope and goodness in ordinary people and it just takes a little action to prove that theory.
2 comments:
reading that story does two things for me. 1)it makes my legs really tired and 2) it gives me hope in the goodness of people. Oh what an experience.
That is a good story...makes me want to maybe donate to random people ha but still i'm glad that is what happened cuz you really do just hear all of those dumb creepy stories of people just collecting money all day or something and who knows what happens next and then i start to thing that it becomes their job to sit out everyday to ask for money and this may be mean of me but i figure if they can do that then they can get some kind of real job where you earn money if they really wanted it but then i think how i don't have a job and i have to ask my parents and grandpa for charity and they are always giving...so yes this makes me change my mind
kate :)
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