lunchtime wisdom

I have the good fortune of working across the street from Riverside Park.  I often have lunch there.  Today, after sending my niece and her husband a congratulatory card and gift - they just announced they're having a baby - I walked over to the park on 112th.  Where it runs into Riverside Drive is a little section with some stone benches and a statue of Samuel J. Tilden.  Tilden was a governor of NY and was the Democratic nominee for president in 1876.  I had planned to read after eating, but there were so many birds and squirrels out.  The birds chirped beautifully, and this one squirrel came very close.  They have really long nails.  I suppose I would have concluded that had I ever really thought about it, but there was something about seeing it up close.

I don't know much about Tilden.  I vaguely remember the name from some US History class, but I was struck by a quote of his that was engraved on the statue's base:  "I trust the people."  For all of the stereotyping about NYC, New Yorkers really aren't that rude.  Sure, you can run into a jerk, but I ran into plenty of those when I lived in the South.  New Yorkers are people in a hurry, but not rude.  One aspect of the stereotype, though, is also a sense of not being able to trust anyone.  True, I have developed a good (or bad) sense of tunnel vision since I moved here.  (If you don't, you could easily give away every dime you own.)  Still, I remain a trusting person.  Thanks, Samuel Tilden.  I trust the people, too.