Archive for October 2008
A Severe Mercy
This book amazes me. I don’t care who or what you are – Atheist, Christian, Muslim, Democrat, Republican – this book is amazing.
Here is an excerpt from “A Severe Mercy” -
“Do fish complain of the sea for being wet? Or if they did, would that fact itself not strongly suggest that they had not always been, or would not always be, purely aquatic creatures?” Then, if we complain of time and take such joy in the seemingly timeless moment, what does that suggest? It suggests that we have not always been or will not always be purely temporal creatures. It suggest that we were created for eternity. Not only are we harried by time, we seem unable, despite a thousand generations, even to get used to it. We are always amazed at it – how fast it goes, how slowly it goes, how much of it is gone. Where, we cry, has the time gone? We aren’t adapted to it, not at home in it. If that is so, it may appear as a proof, or at least a powerful suggestion, that eternity exists and is our home.
Now that’s the spirit!
I busted out of my office today around 1:30pm to find something for lunch. I wasn’t sure where I was going – I figured I would have an easier time deciding if I left my computer(s), blackberry, and stacks of paperwork in my office and just started walking. I turned left directly out of the building doors on 39th Street because my options in that direction were more appealing – Pret and Hale and Hearty – my two usual fall-backs. THEN I saw the line of people coming out of some hole in the wall restaurant that I had never even noticed despite it’s 4-doors-down-the-street proximity to my office. What the heck are they lining up for? I’m not kidding there were 75 people in this line that stretched to the end of the block and threatened to curl around the corner of Broadway.
Cupcakes? No.
1/2 Price Broadway Tickets? No.
They were standing in line to get their $.99 “Recession Burgers” which City Burger (39th Street & Broadway) serves as a Recession Special every Tuesday. Yes, that’s right. People ARE lining up for food, even if they’re wearing stilettos and carrying Louis Vuitton bags. I asked a couple people in line if the burgers are any good and the general consensus is YES.
Recession Burgers are pulling the Mid-town Manhattan community together during these rocky times. Now that’s what I like to see.
