Being There

Can you have too much Macy's? - perhaps. But regular readers of this website know that I do bemoan the disappearance of so many NYC places and things that have given New York the character it is known for. As I also have written in my recent post Constant, many of the feelings that the best things and times have past are nostaligic and a complaint of every generation. Championing a merchant may appear to be unnecessary - they do get paid already as a business. And I have complained about excess consumption in this country with an over emphasis on materialism. However, we do need merchants and Macy's is not an ordinary merchant. To lose them would be sad. Their sponsorship and historic relationship with the Thanksgiving Day Parade (over 80 years) and the July 4th fireworks set them apart. They are part of the physical and psychic fabric of the city. I have written about them in more detail - click here for last year's posting. There is a security in knowing they are there, particularly as the world becomes more temporal, fragile and mutable. We need anchors. It reminds me of a Woody Allen comment about why he needs to live in NYC - that there's a restaurant in Chinatown where he can get a certain favorite dish at four o'clock in the morning. Not that he every has or will go there at that time. It's just knowing it's there. Macy's is one of those places - that whether you go patronize them or not, for a New Yorker, it's important to know they are there, especially at Christmas ...

Posting Note: This posting will remain for two days (Monday and Tuesday) - I will be away with my family in New England. New postings will resume Wednesday. Happy Holidays.