12/15/2024
Last Friday afternoon, December 13th, I was walking down a street in Brooklyn. People were busy coming and going, total strangers to one another. Amazon delivery trucks zipped by, laden with holiday gifts. At first, the scene reminded me of Paris, but I soon sensed a difference—something less common in the City of Light.
Trader Joe’s was bustling with shoppers. Just outside, a family of three huddled together, begging. Beneath the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway, a homeless man lay curled up against the cold. These scenes left me with a distinct impression of urban life: cold and inhumane.
The day is unforgivably cold and the atmosphere here feels indifferent. On one side, there’s the constant hum of human activity; on the other, the visible struggles of those living on the margins. It’s a stark reminder of the dual realities many American cities face: the coexistence of affluence and poverty, progress and neglect.
A saying comes to mind, one that seems to capture Brooklyn’s bustling activity and stark contrasts perfectly: "朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨" (Zhū mén jiǔ ròu chòu, lù yǒu dòng sǐ gǔ), or "Behind the vermillion gates, wine and meat rot; on the streets lie the frozen bones of the poor." It encapsulates the haunting coexistence of wealth and poverty —echoing the realities of urban life across time and cultures.
This scene also brings me back to Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl. Both the saying and the story vividly portray the divide between abundance and hardship, amplifying the human cost of indifference. In Andersen’s tale, the girl freezes while the wealthy remain oblivious to her suffering—a chilling parallel to the disparities I witnessed in Brooklyn. Written in 1845, the story remains heartbreakingly relevant today.
Brooklyn, like much of New York City, is a place of complexity—a blend of creativity, opportunity, and undeniable hardship. The December chill only deepens the sense of inhumanity, amplifying the indifference and the emotional distance that makes everyone seem like strangers to one another.