"I've broken the speed of the sound of loneliness. I'm out there running just to be on the run"
Alabama 3, 'Speed of Loneliness'
The back page of the New York Times on Saturday had a wonderfully dramatic panoramic photo of the skies above the so called 'Subway Series' baseball game between the Yankees and the Mets. As night invaded, the stadium lights increased in effect and overhead hung these impossibly crimson tinged clouds, glowing as consistent as a neon light outside some dodgy gay nightclub. As far as I gather, this was an extremely rare occurrence for New York. But back further down south beyond the equator, I've experienced this several times.
It seems to occur when a thunderstorm ends just at early evening's onset and dusk sets in and there is a thin film of rain-empty clouds to screen a red setting sun. Its not just the pink clouds that cause wonder at beauty, for me its also the bizarre muted light tones that just hover about your eyes. Kinda makes me feel like I'm on some ancient badly lit Hollywood sound stage, back before the lighting department had the budget to personal up beyond 2 people.
But, as i said before, in New York this is a mighty rare occurrence. So, it was with true child-like 'wonder at beauty', that the "Go look at the clouds outside!" command was passed around between my workmates. Now, these folk are true cynical, service industry hardened, literal New Yorkers, however, such unexpected and simple beauty was enough to stop them in their tracks. One by one, all left their sections and raced down the harsh concrete entrance stairs, to stare silently up and around the late Friday evening atmosphere.
New Yorkers, so often maligned as too literal, analytical and physical, are viewed (or shall i say - judged) as being far too unconcerned with nature and her wonderment. Yet this was an instance where a so very simple act of Mother Nature overshadowed (excuse real bad pun please) reportage of one the big sporting events of the year.
As discussed in a posting further on down this very page, so very many come here aiming towards a target or running directly from one. This mindset necessitates an extreme focus. But, there's always going to be moments of such rareness, that shocks one to avert his or her eyes from the beaten path they're staring down and just enjoy the clouds around them.
There's a Hawaiian I know who might take so much from this metaphor. She's here executing both - she running to AND from. That's double the focus! But i think she needs to be careful not to become too focused on the act of achieving her target without taking the 'pink-cloud-timeout' to take pause and reflect on if she really wants to end up at (and with) the target.
Come to think of it, i too am running to and from. Perhaps rather than framing my lessons through someone else's experience, i could relate this metaphor to me as well.........
