The City of Dreams

Photo By: Deborah Lee Yu Rong

The spirit of a city, any city is important and can often be felt. There’s a unknowing presence and sense that comes upon you when you feel met by the soul of the city.

This is where I feel met.

Many have told me how cold, uncaring and unfeeling people are here. But I disagree.

I think that this is a city where you can find connection and purpose, but only if you’re willing to open yourself up to it. Only if you’re willing to stay present and pay attention.

On the way back to my apartment today, I saw a young black man in a bus preaching from the Bible. He was obviously not in his right mind and recited verses like he was reading from scripts from his head – he was trying to proselytise in a bus with a fire and brimstone message; completely oblivious to the context of the situation and the nature of his audience.

Then a black lady, obviously triggered, spoke up and told him off. An older white gentleman stepped in to try and calm the situation down, trying to tell the black lady not to react and respond. But the black lady didn’t let that stop her, she said, ‘I ain’t afraid of no man, I grew up in a family with 9 boys’

With that said, she stood up and walk away to the front of the bus while the preacher man continued with his religious spiel.

I felt a strange comfort watching this interaction.

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I felt a sense of deep freedom and also trust. Trust in the fact that everything is as it should be.

I think of the poem Desiderata, and the lines

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Selah.