As a kid, I spent many summer nights on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, NJ....
My friend Kenny Smith and I would sit on the benches (along the edge of the boardwalk) and we would just gaze at people walking by. We might sit for a few minutes, that somehow evolved into hours....but our mission and introspection was always the same.
In the unspoken word (sitting with my friend) I learned to appreciate, much more than "watching people on a boardwalk during summer nights..." But, more than that it - was the APPRECIATION OF people watching, the sheer enjoyment of watching human drama pass by - like trees on the side of the road, gazing out the window of a car.
Seeing and witnessing
all different walks of life, and TRULY taking it all in - without Kenny and I speaking to each other, without communicating -- BUT KNOWING WE WERE EACH SEEING AND EXPERIENCING the same visual -- but through our OWN UNIQUE LENS.
It stayed with me, and it is something I want to pass on to my children.
This past weekend, my wife and kids joined me in Rockefeller Center -- doing the same thing that Kenny and I did in Seaside Height, 25 years ago.
We watched people. I spoke of how each person passing by has a "life." How each person's has their own unique story to tell.....and how a face can tell a thousand things -- all without speaking. We sat on a bench, and I noticed each of my children (at 6 yrs old) start to appreciate the value of just, "taking it all in..."
Around this post are some of the images, of watching people and their ACTIONS, on a random Satuday in New York City with my family.
Comments