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You never know what you might see in New York. Some years ago, my family and I visited the city for a weekend. It was on this trip that we first encountered The Chicken Man. He was dancing around in a women’s one-piece swimsuit and a large mascot bird head (hence the name), waving around a plastic reindeer on a stick. The man was quickly registered in the Giuntini hall of fame, and to this day, he remains the most unusual individual I have seen in New York.
After I moved here and joined First Things as a junior fellow, I soon became conscious of other dimensions of the city. I recently passed a taxi driver stretched out on a rectangle of cardboard and praying toward Mecca, his cab parked along the curb, the front door open. At the Bryant Park ice rink in January, I skated alongside Orthodox Jewish families. While at St. Patrick’s Cathedral this past weekend, my parents and I saw a Sikh couple pause in front of the image of Divine Mercy, bow, and walk on.
I have also seen much suffering. There’s a homeless man who often sits on the public library’s stairs next to a sign that reads, “I might as well be invisible.” In New York City, the worst and the best of human nature are laid bare. Which is why it is particularly fitting that First Things is headquartered here. First Things is no stranger to the world; we do not flinch away from reality and the truth of the human condition—namely, that we members of mankind are restless until we rest in God. We were made for eternal things.
The first things are timeless, and that is what makes First Things timeless. As a junior fellow, one of my tasks is to craft the Sunday Spotlight email each week, which features articles from the archives. I am often shocked to find that pieces written thirty years ago describe 2023 perfectly.
Even so, as timeless as it is, First Things will only remain so long as we continue to receive your generous donations. There are countless people like you, keeping the voice of religion alive in the public square, proving again and again that we are religious as well as political animals. Won’t you donate today?
Claire Giuntini is a junior fellow at First Things.
Did you know that for every dollar in program revenue, readers like you give $2.50? Your support is urgently needed to champion the truth of orthodoxy amidst a proliferation of false religions. Take your stand by supporting the 2023 First Things spring campaign with a gift today:
Image by Jean-Christophe Benoist via Creative Commons. Image cropped.
