New Bedford Journal
18 October 2009
A Tale of Two Cities
Close your eyes and imagine two pictures. The descriptions are from actual photos. Picture No. 1 depicts an elderly white man with gray hair and a gray beard and wire rimmed glasses, sporting a stuffed red lobster hat on his head made of cloth. The lobster’s two large red claws dangle over each of his ears. Over his white button-down shirt, he wears an embroidered vest of many colors. Kelly green Bermuda shorts, imprinted with tiny whales, do not quite cover his boney knees, but, fortunately, high white socks with tassels and fringed loafers are present to restrain the rest of his Yankee white legs. In the background, beneath a neat white canopy, is a table on which are arrayed various cakes and scones and cookies, along with artisan jams and jellies. A large white, shaggy dog sits obediently on the curb with some school age children who are eyeing the goodies while listening to the insistent, winding strains of a hastily put together Celtic supergroup consisting of The Kennedys, The Englishmen, and Bua, a band from Chicago.
In Picture No. 2, we see the back of a man in dreadlocks, wearing a bright red jersey on which Few Are Chosen is emblazoned. Next to him is a man with four days stubble, wrap around sunglasses and a camouflage baseball cap turned backwards, camouflage fatigues, and a muscle shirt. Both are watching with satisfied expressions on their faces as a heavy, bald man in a red wrestling suit has just been thrown out of an elevated ring onto the ground by a smaller dark haired man with closely cropped black hair. In a beach chair near the ring sits an enormous woman, her form outlined by an aqua knit sleeveless top. She holds a large container of Coca Cola in one hand and a sausage sandwich in the other. Behind the ring we see a bright red barn on which is painted ‘Rosie’s Racing Pigs.’ Amidst tables of plastic balloon toys is a sign that says ‘Yes, We Have Diabetic Socks,’ and further on is a handwritten poster seeking donations to provide suppers for homeless veterans. A little boy with a hunter’s cap stares at two painted clowns eating their lunch, while teenage girls in tight shorts listen to the thumping sounds of Close Zac Mac Band and Johnny Lingo.
From these two pictures, we can see they both have in common that they are from festivals of some sort – probably during the summer. But otherwise, they must be from two vastly different places. The first, perhaps, from Chatham, while the second could be from Brockton. Or the first might be from Marblehead; the second, from Lawrence. But, in fact, they are both from the same place – and that place is right here, New Bedford, our fair city. Indeed, added to these two pictures could be a dozen others, all quite different from one another, and yet all pictures of life in the same city. The first picture was taken at Summerfest downtown. The second, a week later, at the Whaling City festival at Buttonwood Park.
These pictures remind us of just how much diversity of culture, ethnicity, race, economics lives within the boundaries of our wonderful New Bedford. These pictures should also remind us, as members of First Unitarian, how uniquely in a position we are – as a religious body – to find ways that we may serve as a focal point for communication and dialogue among all the diverse peoples of New Bedford. If ours is a faith that welcomes diversity, then this is not something we should just talk about. It is something we should do, that we must act on. That is the core of the faith that we live.
This is my New Bedford Journal for October 18th, 2009.