new york, new york

Michael Lin and I were high school buddies and went to the same university/department in Taiwan then came to the States the same year some 40 years ago. He ended up settling in NoCal while I in SoCal. My wife and I were looking forward to attending the wedding reception in October for his daughter whom we had watched growing up as a little girl when he called and suggested we go to New York City this month where his daughter and her fiance resided for the "real thing"–the official ceremony and celebration with only a few close friends and parents of the bride and the groom–and some touring and time together in the City... A trip of purpose and pleasure, I thought... and, why not! So off we went!

This was my third visit to the Big Apple, the first two being one or two-day stop-by's that merely counted, while this time I spent six days and seven nights

Having a variety of ethnic foods, Chinese (dumplings), Japanese (ramen), French (sandwiches), Italian (veal), Latin (fusion), and world famous New York pizza, all so authentically delicious, at surprisingly reasonable prices.

​​Going to a Broadway show, Lion King, not so much for the storyline or dialogues, but the theatrical fanfare and acrobatic acting and dancing, singing and costuming.

Watching sunset on East River shore, shimmering sunlight on the river, Manhattan skyscrapers silhouetting in the back.

​Lying on the immaculately maintained spongy grass of the city park, at day and at night, blue skies or shiny city lights above.

Witnessing a wedding on a rooftop, watching the city as the city watched back, two fine young man and woman pledged and hailed their new life together.

​And taking the subway to and fro like veteran New Yorkers do every day.

You realized this was indeed a city that never slept when you saw the nightly crowds flooding Times Square, a town where "everything's happening" with scaffoldings everywhere and construction machinery humming and heaving all day long...

Yet when I visited the city library, I was struck by its palace-like decorations and the generous donations it received from many, showing great respect for learning and knowledge. As I looked up from the little but ecologically friendly zoo inside Central Park and saw a giant spider mock-up crawling on a wooden pole against the concrete high rises outside and blue skies above, I chuckled and marveled at this perfect blend of nature and civilization the city was.

​​Lastly, but not least, spending a whole week meeting and bantering and playing ping pong and billiard balls like we used to do as teen-agers with an old friend that went back half a century, watching his lovely daughter holding a rabbit doll she once forgot in our house when she's little, becoming a mature, beautiful, soon-to-be eye-doctor wife of another promising young man, the soul mate of her life... surely these were things worthy of taking a twenty-five hundred mile trip for!

 

vasily grossman

"Human history is not the battle of good struggling to overcome evil. It is a battle fought by a great evil struggling to crush a small kernel of human kindness. But if what is human in human beings has not been destroyed even now, then evil will never conquer."
— “Life and Fate”, Vasily Grossman

"Humanity is fundamentally good", that is probably one basic tenet many secular humanists hold. But how does an atheistic world keep this flickering flame of good from going out without help from an almighty God, Existentialist philosophers and do-gooders, besides pointing out the absurdity of human existence and suggesting "do good for goodness' sake", don't seem to have other exciting ideas or survival guides to offer. In contrast, Vasily Grossman, a Russian Jew whose mother was murdered by the Nazis and who himself had endured the tyranny of Stalin Soviets and the horror of siege warfare with the invading Germans during World War II, held this simple belief that "as long as some little act of kindness can be found somewhere in the world, humanity prevails." That's a heartening thought!

Flip the coin to the other side: Even God-believers have many hard times struggling between doing good and doing evil. Just look at these exemplar characters in the Bible: King David, God's beloved, committing heinous crimes such as adultery and murder; St. Paul crying out "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death!"; and Job, a "righteous man", bickering with God about the many "unfair" treatments he's been dealt... All indicating that spiritual living in a rough-and-tumble world is not one super battle where a victory is claimed and then smooth sailing all the way, but more likely a long and winding journey where God is often heard saying, "I have heard your suffering, now go suffer!"

I am one who believes Truth is not exclusively written in the Bible, but exists all around the world and within human hearts for all to see and feel. That is why when I read that passage by Vasily Grossman–an apparent non-believer–I was elated: Yeah, good triumphs over evil, darkness yields to light, isn't that the simple, universal truth we knew all along since we were kids?!

There is vast unknown in the subconscious/unconscious mind of humans, psychologists/human rationalists agree. Could conscience, or the ultimate good of humanity, be one elusive, precious unknown that deserves and demands persistent pursuit by a humanist, in the same manner a believer goes after the Holy Spirit hidden in him/her, with piety?

"God took seeds from other worlds and saved them on this earth, and raised up his garden; and everything that could sprout sprouted, but it lives and grows only through its sense of being in touch with other mysterious worlds; if this sense is weakened or destroyed in you, that which has grown up in you dies. Then you become indifferent to life, and even come to hate it."
— "The Brothers Karamazov", Fyodor Dostoevsky