You know the holidays are near when you bump into a friend from Rhode Island on Fifth Avenue in New York City, near Lord and Taylor’s, or when you run into a neighbor of your publisher admiring the work of caricaturists outside the Warner Brothers store, a block from Broadway.
Or when you look at Macy’s impressive window display on 34th Street, while anti-fur groups are demonstrating across the street and women decked out in full-length furs stand near the entrance to the department store, oblivious of the protestors.
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You know it’s the holiday season when the odors from street vendors are a mix of hot pretzels and those chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
Or when you stop by Rockefeller Center and see the ice rink (the one that’s smaller than Providence’s rink), with the tree looming above and throngs of onlookers leaning over to catch a glimpse of hordes of mediocre skaters.
It’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where a few come for private thoughts and prayer, and thousands pass through gawking at the remarkable architecture, and listening to the church’s choir, while some recall the memorable events that have taken place in the building.
It’s battling crowds like we’ve never seen here, on street corners alone that seem to hold the entire population of some of our smaller cities and towns.
A visit to New York City at this time of year – no matter what the economic climate – is validation that retail is alive and flourishing. It is for many an annual ritual, maybe the point at which their holiday spirit kicks into high gear.
While the season blossoms in at malls downtown and in suburbia elsewhere, there’s nothing like the glitter, noise, concentration of stores, and sheer crush of humanity that characterizes New York City to make the season merry.
Then it’s nice to go home, to a quieter place in Rhode Island where concerns are more about maneuvering through traffic on busy Route 2, than walking from one corner to another at Times Square.
With all the crush of what’s going on at this holiday season, it is also a time for us to remember those less fortunate.
On the radio this morning, I heard how the volatility of the stock market was giving people reason to pause about making charitable donations at this time of year. I would hope that if the market were to give us reason for pause, we would cut back on personal purchases, rather than holding back on contributions that help those less fortunate in our society.
Visions of New York City — a well-dressed woman in fur coat, protestors nearby, and a homeless person picking through a garbage can in search of a scrap of food, while the street is filled with the smells of warm pretzels and chestnuts roasting.
The real spirit of this season, the real measure of us as individuals and companies, I think, is not how well we shop, but how well we take care of those who simply cannot take care of themselves.
