Manson's Memo 5/25

Earlier this month, Jane and I made our first trip to New York City. It is a place that seems familiar to many people because we’ve seen it in movies and heard stories (often horror stories) about New York and New Yorkers.

We discovered that New York is really many places all together. Times Square is full of people all the time. But not far away, there are interesting neighborhoods with their own character.

Central Park is a green place surrounded by large buildings. But there are other parks all around Manhattan (easily seen from atop the Empire State Building). Riverside Park was especially nice.

A trip over to Brooklyn netted us a cup of what may be the world’s best hot chocolate (available with or without chiles), and the beauty of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden at the perfect time of year for nearly everything to be in bloom.

We ate BBQ, bagels, cheesecake, Indian food, pizza, homemade pasta in Little Italy, sandwiches from a kosher deli. The only real disappointment was the hot dog stand hot dog.

In short, New York can’t really be put into a stereotype. It is full of diversity, like all large cities are. And that diversity is what gives New York its life.

Our communities are also becoming more and more diverse. Many people yearn for the time when we seemed to be more homogenous. But we would miss so much without the many things others bring to our communities.

We are reminded that God does not make us all the same. We are short and tall, male and female, dark skinned and light, some are more intelligent than others, some are faster than others. We hold different ideas and different values. And because of these differences, there may be friction, but there is also growth as we interact.

What a wonderful blessing we have in God's variety.