A Sad Day

Now it has been a little over a week since our community experienced a real tragedy. This is text from the daily news who says it better than I can:

As hundreds of mourners bid farewell Tuesday to a Brooklyn teen who died mysteriously after a brawl, police arrested four people - including a 42-year-old father and his sons - for their role in the scuffle.
Friends and relatives packed a Cobble Hill funeral home to pay their respects to 17-year-old Sharif Abdallah, who collapsed and died after defending his friend against bullies in Prospect Park.
"People loved my son and were touched by this tragedy," the teen's grieving father, Tony, 48, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority general superintendent of support operations, said Tuesday night.
"I raised him for 17 years, wanted to mold him, shape him into a man," he said. "All of that took 17 years, and in all of two minutes they took him away. That's the most tragic thing."

It was a Saturday evening. Eric was driving the 68 bus in Brooklyn which ends at prospect park. I was riding the bus with him. When we got to the park he noticed a group of people gathered and flowers all over the place. I was given the task to see what was going on.

There at the entrance of the park was a makeshift memorial made in memory of this young person. He was only 17 years old. As a person with little children under my care, it really struck me how brutal this life can be. To Eric's surprise, I returned to the bus in tears. Not everyday in Brooklyn is wonderful. There are days when life is very harsh.

The next day I went back to take a closer look at what was there. There were photos of his life cut short, candles, packs of Newports and a board with thoughts of people who visited this memorial. Next to the flowers was his skate board.

To be the parents of this child has to be very hard. The years of giving your life to your child in hopes that someday they will do well and add good things to the world that we live in freezes at that moment. Dreams are shattered. Love is paralyzed. One becomes numb with sadness and emptiness.

Many of the notes were from friends who will be changed forever by this event. Although for them it might become someday a distant memory, it will always hang in the back of ones mind releasing itself from time to time like an electric shock.

Like a flower that will eventually wither, so life eventually ends. These events need to warn us not to become so involved with life's demands that we forget to spend time with those that we love and Cherish. In a moments notice all can change and there is no retreat from death.

Coney Island Polar Bears New Years 2009

On January 1, 2009 Coney Island was the site of the annual Polar Bear Club Swim. They do this every week during the winter months on Sunday at 1pm. That is every week, regardless of weather, like in the rain, snow, and sometimes freezing cold. One New Years Day, the rest of the nuts from NYC and surrounding areas come to Coney Island. This year there were nearly 2000 participants and on lookers. The famous Grill House was open for that one day. Needless to say, we sold tons of hot dogs and hot coffee. It was about 22 degrees, sunny and windy on the beach. This was good and bad. Good because the colder it is outside the warmer the water feels. The sun was a bright idea, adding slightly to the comfort of the individuals swimming. However, while you were waiting for the release to go into the water, you were freezing and when you got out your body was numb and the wind was blowing the sand like needles into your skin.

I think everyone had a wonderful time. However, there was a reminder for all, that things were changing in Coney Island. Thor Equities, who owns the land where all the amusement parks are has decided to play hard ball with the city of New York. They posted huge signs on all the buildings that these stores are up for rent. This was done without the knowledge of people who own the actual structures. He has also made it known that the rents for these facilities will be more than double the previous year. That means whoever rents the stores will have no chance in making a reasonable profit. And if there are any bad weekends during the summer, then there would be a loss.

When Thor Equities bought this property, their President believed that even with top prices paid for the properties, he would be able to build high rise apartments and do away with the Amusement Parks. However, the city will not budge on the zoning of these properties and now threatens to seize the property under emanate domain.

Coney Island is where millions of people come in the summer months to relax and enjoy the beach. They have for decades enjoyed the amusements that bordered the beach. Coney Island has been a destination of people all over the world. Today it is in need of renovation. It has the potential of being a world renowned recreation area. Two days ago Astroland removed the famous Rocket Ship from the top of Gregory and Paul’s food stand. Paul, who has owned this establishment for 58 years, had tears in his eyes when they lifted the Ship off his building.

There seems to be a tension in America today. Our pastor in his sermon two weeks ago boldly proclaimed that America has fallen prey to greed. Coney Island has become a new symbol of the tension between greed and good sense. Making (or stealing) money has become more important than the well being of the people in our country.

We have sent our best assets overseas in hopes that the share holders of our Corporations can see amazingly high profits. Our government has taken steps to bail out people who have become wealthy stealing from others.

On 911 when my son and I stood looking at the World Trade Center drop to its knees, I knew that this was going to bankrupt us. “God Bless America” was our slogan on all the highway signs. Some ministers were bold enough to call this a warning sign. Maybe we should have made the signs “Give your hearts back to God”. We also think that God Bless American means that we are entitled to the world’s resources. It may be possible that God may have to break our pride and bring us to our knees in order to pour out his blessing on us. We shall see.

Many Blessings for this New Year.

Barre.

A Brooklyn Christmas

There is no place in the world like Dyker Heights, Brooklyn to see Christmas lights. This being an old Italian neighborhood, it reflects all the wonders of Italian culture. Street after street is lined with lavish Christmas decorations. One street, 84th between 11 & 12th avenues, is by far the most amazing block of all. Cars line up for a 30 to 45 minute wait just to go to up this block. On one of my walks I ventured down this block. It was just about night with the light beginning to sparkle. One home owner who had just moved onto this block did not realize that between thanksgiving and new years his block would be a virtual parking lot. This was his first year to try and match what his neighbor had put up. He had erected a fully animated Ferris wheel in the Christmas theme with lights surrounding. This might seem like a lot, but his neighbor had erected nearly 150 lite wooden soldiers along with a driveway adorned in angels with a magnificent chair that would seat a real Santa Claus. The final home at the end of this block was adorned with a huge Santa and Wooden soldiers.

People who drive by these homes are amazed at the wonder of the lights and decorations. This has been going on since I lived in Brooklyn, for nearly 30 years. There are many stories as to how this all got started. One story, regarding the largest display centers around a child that died earlier in the year and the parents being without their child on the following Christmas took to making their amazing display. Of all the holidays that we Americans celebrate during the year, Christmas holds a lot of emotions. Like Thanksgiving, it is another family day but adds to it the dimension of gift giving. There are many categories of gift giving. We give gifts to some people because we love them, like our children and significant others. Others are on our obligation list. In some cases we have no clue what to buy a person and often get the wrong gift as is demonstrated when the person opens their present with no emotion. My friend collects gifts that she calls “forward gifts”… that will eventually be given in their original state to others.

This year two things have changed my gift giving patterns. Number one – I am broke. Number two – Corporate American has truly shown its cards with all the greed over this past year. The first reason is largely due to the second reason. This situation has given me a good excuse to review what Christmas is really all about. I have enjoyed being in Church several times a week to quietly pray for my life and those around me. I have come to appreciate what it means to “Not be of this world”. Again, American corporate businesses are trying once again to distort Christmas. Bigger and bolder sales, Non-ending emails on the latest and greatest Christmas gifts. This year, I feel like all of this promotion really smells.

If you look around my house, you will find that the longest lasting gifts are the ones people made for me. One is a simple cross my granddaughter created several years ago. One is a book with notes of encouragement from a Bible Study group I taught in the late ‘80’s. What wonderful memories they bring. The gift of Love from our hearts is worth a lot to the recipient. Hopefully in this difficult economic time we can take advantage of what has happened and grow closer to Christ.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Barre

We are a week and 2 days from Christmas. Yesterday it was 62 degrees out and today it snowed. Each day that it is reasonable nice out, meaning that it is above 20 degrees and not pouring rain, I take a walk. On one walk I go towards Coney Island. The nice part about this walk is that when you get there, you see the ocean and feel the salt air. It is very relaxing.

Unlike my walk along the Hudson river and under the Verrazano Bridge, this walk is mostly on the streets. The attached picture is at Cropsey and Neptune Avenues looking towards the parachute drop. This is a very interesting picture for many reasons. One is that it portrays the intensity of the city with all the wires and buildings and cars. There is a sort of entanglement that is felt. This corner is two blocks from the Boardwalk. Now if you look very closely there is, in the midst of this entanglement an oasis. In the very center of this picture is a Church. This church is a Roman Catholic Church. I happened to visit this church during the early summer months and was very surprised at how many people attended this church. There was a rich balance ethnically and economically. The Priest in charge is a very down to earth man who each week gives a very simple message of hope and a challenge to dedicate ones life to Christ. To my surprise this church seemed to be very evangelical. Most every hymn we sang was of protestant origin. Inside the church was a beautiful sanctuary done in with Spanish influences. There is an amazing quietness there. At that point I started popping in on Sundays before I went to work on the boardwalk. But no more than 5 or so weeks past and the Priest went on vacation and was replaced by a foreign priest from Jamaica that I could not understand. So I stopped.

Seven months past and I again began passing this church on my newly established daily walk. So one day I opened the front door (it was unlocked) and walked in to sit and be quiet. The morning communion service was just starting so I joined the 10 people and received communion. How absolutely wonderful I felt after this refreshing meal. I prayed for a while and continued to the boardwalk. The next day I was back for more.

Although there are only 10 older people during the week at this 8am service, on Sundays there are about 600 people attending.

People today are very stressed with life. The greedy American corporations and our leaders have led our country down a pretty difficult path. I don’t know about you, but the most wonderful place to be is the House of the Lord. No matter what is happening in the world outside, inside is always protected by God’s presence. There is a young mother that works at one of the businesses I program for. She makes virtually nothing and has the total responsibility of caring for her child. On Friday night after I finish my work I offer her a ride home. Last week I asked her if she was feeling stressed by all that was going on. Without hesitation she replied, “I am not of this world!”. How simple is that thought.

Halfway along my walk to Coney Island is a house that is set back from the street. There are several trees in the yard and on one tree stump is a beautiful figurine. A little Tinkerbelle as it were is laying exhausted from life’s challenges. Thank God for the Christ’s Church that offers hope in the midst of our exhaustion.

Many Blessings,
Barre.

Brooklyn Bus Driver Killed

Last Wednesday a NYC bus driver was stabbed to death while driving his bus in Brooklyn. My Godson, Eric was just about to start his route when this event happened. Eric drives in the same area of Brooklyn where this incident took place. Needless to say we were very disturbed at this event.

The buses in NYC are a major means of transportation. Taking a bus is very different than taking the Subway. Buses are much more personal than trains and people are more likely to engage in conversations with strangers on a bus than on a train. On a bus it is very easy to beat a fare. Fare beaters often enter by the back of the bus. Some fare beaters pass the driver and ask to be let on and many drivers will let that happen. Some fare beaters after they are on will ask for a transfer so as to not have to beg a second driver for a free ride. For a bus driver it is one thing to sneak on a bus without paying for a fare, but a far different thing to sneak on and then want a transfer. There are some people whose brains don’t calculate the fact that they are not entitled to a transfer.

I often ride the bus with Eric and there isn’t a run that he drives without several people who get on the bus for free. Saturday evening for example one guy got on with no less than 12 zero balance fare cards, which is another trick. Eric wanting to get going just told him to go ahead. For a while I used to categorize the fare beaters and count them so as to see what kind of patterns would develop.

On Wednesday a young man of 21 entered the bus through the back door. He went a few stops and got off through the front door. He asked the bus driver for a transfer and the driver hesitated but gave the kid the transfer. The young man punched him in the head and started to get off the bus. Then the young man turned around and stabbed the bus driver multiple times, at which point the man fled on foot and the bus driver slumped over his wheel and died there on the bus. The driver of the bus that had pulled up behind him got off her bus to see what was going on. She freaked out seeing the sight of the driver slumped over the wheel with his guts hanging out. The police arrived first and pulled the driver from the seat and took him to the hospital in their car. He was DOA.

The shock of this horrible event sent waves throughout our city. Every bus changed it Outside Title to the B46 in honor and respect of their fellow bus driver. Eric and his family were very shaken by this event. By the end of the week all were exhausted from thinking about whether there would be copy cat events. Eric was especially worried, wondering whether he would make it home from work without incident. In all of our minds was what affect it would have on his 2 year old son if he did not come home after work because of a violent event.

A day after the crime was committed the man was arrested. His drug supplier had turned him in. The man had a long history of violent crimes and was currently on probation.

New Yorkers viewed this differently than when a policeman or firefighter was killed in the line of duty. It is not the duty of a bus driver to be killed over a fare. There was a sense of enragement over this event and a deep sadness that his family would be forever affected. The funeral viewing is today. The MTA has arranged special buses to take its employees to the funeral home and again tomorrow for the actual funeral.

Not everyday is bright and sunny here in Brooklyn.


Pictures: 1. Barre on the B15 2. Eric on the B61 3. Barre And Little Eric at the beginning of the B46, the line where on which the bus driver was killed.

Much has happened since the last post on my Brooklyn Blog. Valentyn and her baby are doing very well. She has made a nest in Queens where she is living with her mom. The baby is nearly 13 weeks old and simply beautiful. Harlow tends to be a very content baby. Valentyn is a good mom working hard to give her child the love and attention he needs.

Many of you know that years ago, nearly 25 now, I lived in the Sunset area of Brooklyn. When I lived there it was a quiet Avenue with a white European population. Bordering to the east was a very conservative Jewish neighborhood and to the west a very Hispanic neighborhood. There was always discussion as to which neighborhood would take over and dominate our neighborhood. Eric, my godson, lives in this neighborhood today and I visit it often. Some 15 years ago the transformation began to take place. To everyone’s surprise an Asian community began to develop. Families would come with bags of money and buy up homes and business. At first it sprawled 5 blocks off the N Train line to Chinatown in Manhattan, then 10 and then 20 blocks. The transformation was amazing. Culturally everything had become “Little China”. There was really no concern to be “American” because the population was so Chinese that many of the stores did not need white American business to survive. On any given weekend there are thousands of Asian shoppers on these blocks. There are no longer any American Businesses. For many of the White American people left in this neighborhood it is almost unnerving to have to shop along 8th Avenue. Most of the food in the stores is completely unfamiliar and talking with people who are very limited in your language is extremely hard. Sometimes I go to Eric’s home to have dinner, when I go to what used to be a local A&P to buy food, I am now crawling over live frogs in huge containers and all kinds of meats I have never seen to find anything normal to eat. It can be very exhausting

Interestingly, the churches that once were American are now doubling as Chinese / American churches. The English congregations still hold the main auditorium at the 11am Sunday morning service, but the Chinese services have over populated the Americans in number. This is also hard for the American founders of these churches. They seen the world that they built diminish as a whole new Church is forming.

The American church needs to understand that Christianity is relative to worlds that we don’t understand. No longer can we approach these cultures as if we are the Father of Christianity. I think the American church has found being relevant at home and abroad very difficult. Sometimes we have sacrificed our core values to be accepted and prosperous. Today we are challenged to constantly rethink the core values of our faith and how we will relate to a world that seems so foreign to us. The diversity in most American communities really forces this issue.

It is now mid September in Brooklyn. The weather lately has begun to feel like fall. I am no longer able to go out early in the mornings with just a t-shirt. The boardwalk is preparing for a quiet winter with many of the concessions and rides no longer open during the week. When I walk around our neighborhood I am amazed at how many gardens were planted with Tomatoes and Peppers and Squash. There are many Asian people here and they love Squash plants, big giant ones. There is however an amazing garden just two blocks from my house. The gardner is a man in his 70's who relentlessly cared for his small plot of land all summer. Here he grows the ingredients he needs for his fresh tomatoe sauce. The amazing thing is how many tomatoes he was able to grow on such a small plot of land. They were so well organized and the plum tomatoes were huge. Next to the tomatoes were rows of peppers and next to that was a huge plot of basil. Each day when I walked by I wanted to steal just one tomatoe from his vines. As you can see they are very inviting.

Beyond Mr Cuzamano's garden there were other gardens as well. On older Italian had the most beautiful plum tree with an amazing amount of fruit hanging from it.

One of the greatest joys of all were the abundance of flowers, especially roses. It seems that everyones yard has some flowers. On Asian woman has the most amazing flower garden and in the middle of it are Queen Ann Roses. All this week the one bush was producing the most beautiful roses. When I pass by I always sneak a smell of the roses. For the very second my nose touches the rose I feel like I am in Heaven, but the second it leaves the rose, the smell can barely be remembered. To pass her house is always my most enjoyable moment of the day.

Recently I was riding my bicycle on the walkway next to the hudson river. I came upon a very strange sight. There was a Haitian women walking backwards with a bottle of water on her head. As you can see by the picture I am telling the truth about this one.

Some time ago there was a Russian woman on the boardwalk walking backward. And since then occasionally I see people walking backwards as they exercise. I am not sure why they do this. But it seems that on the one hand they are very involved with their past and like to focus on the past to somehow assure themselves of a future.

This woman pictured actually peaked into the future a lot just to make sure she was headed in the right direction. On the boardwalk it is easier to keep on the right direction because their are parallel boards the measure your progress by. The straight and narrow seems easier to figure when you have something or someone to guide you.

This imagery raises a lot of questions about life. How should we face life. Should we look back and count our blessings or should we look to the future and calculate all we do by what we preceive might happen in the future. Faith in Christ involves all of the above. It involves preparing for a harvest and being wise and yet trusting Christ for our daily needs. Looking back helps us remember that His promises never will fail us.

Many blessings, Barre