"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice

A Cold Winter Morning

Last night I got a call from one of the women I served jury duty with last summer. We’ve e-mailed occasionally but her computer was on the fritz and so she found my number and called to say hello. Funny how being on a grand jury for a month with complete strangers can forge a bond. We aren’t close friends but we like each other.

“I’m not rich, but I feel blessed,” she said. “I live paycheck-to-paycheck, I don’t do well saving, but I feel rich. Even more than people who have a lot of money. I’m happy. Do you know I came into work the other day and said good morning to a co-worker and she looked up at me and said, ‘What’s so good about it?’ I said, ‘You woke up, didn’t you? You have a job, right? You have your health?’ I mean, really. Sometimes I think people just like to be miserable.”

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5 comments

1 Sliced Bread   ~  Jan 13, 2010 9:22 am

Nothing like a sunrise over Manhattan. That view (from slightly further north at the approach to the Lincoln Tunnel) is the best part of my early commute from NJ. It snaps me out of my thoughts, or whatever I'm listening to at the moment, and says "Wake up, kid, look alive."

2 NoamSane   ~  Jan 13, 2010 12:05 pm

So simple but so true. It's so often difficult to remember to be appreciative of the foundation elements in our lives. Amidst a breakup years ago, I said to my soon to be ex-gf "You're not happy unless you're unhappy".

3 The Mick536   ~  Jan 13, 2010 12:20 pm

When I practiced in NY, I thought that grand juries were the dumbest procedural impediment to justice ever created. When I practiced in VT, I found out that I should have ranked them second. A least, with a grand jury, someone other than the prosecutor decides whom to charge with a felony.

Great photo.

4 Alex Belth   ~  Jan 13, 2010 12:23 pm

Not happy unless you are unhappy. That's like the joke from Annie Hall:

The food here is lousy.

Yeah, and such small portions.

5 ny2ca2dc   ~  Jan 13, 2010 12:44 pm

I'm digging these posts Alex, good stuff.

Much better than agonizing over Reed Johnson or whether Brett Gardner is better judged to be a mediocre player by his stats or by observation.

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"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver