On the afternoon of October 14th,
I was sitting on a bench just west of the mall in Central Park with a few of my
friends when we heard music in the distance. Intrigued, we got up in search of the
music’s source and came upon a large group of people dancing within a
barricaded area. Quickly, we realized that not only were these people dancing,
but most of them were on roller-skates. We had stumbled upon the Dance Skaters
Association of New York City on Skater’s Road in Central Park. There was loud funk
music playing and people within the barricades dancing, roller-skating, and
dancing on their roller-skates. While the roller-skaters were contained within
the barricades, there were also people lined up along the barricades watching
and bobbing to the beat; some people were so drawn to the energy within the
barricade that they hopped over the barricades to go dance along inside. It was
as if the energy of the music was contagious, you could not resist tapping your
feet and singing along. Something within the barricades pulled you in, making
you want to be a part of the community within, and the people within the
barricades invited you in as they rolled by. People within the barricades
helped each other skate by linking arms and quite literally lifted each other
up when one of them fell down. People of all walks of life, ages, and races
were represented within the barricade, joined together in a community of dance
and celebration.
This mixed group of people dancing and
skating together felt like a clear representation of the notion of America as a
melting pot, and as I watched, I felt such a strong sense of peace and
tranquility falling over me. Something about watching a large group of
strangers literally joined in a community dancing and celebrating gave me a
sense of hope. Given the current seemingly hopeless political climate, seeing a
group of strangers all of whom looked different join together and celebrate
life for no other reason than to celebrate made me feel optimistic. Watching
the Dance Skaters Association dance and skate within Skater’s Road situated in
America’s political situation today, I saw the skaters’ performance as a form
of beauty within a world of hatred and uncertainty. This concept is reminiscent
of the relationship between beauty and wickedness that Henry Ward Beecher
discusses in his sermon, “Religion and the Beautiful.” In his sermon, Beecher
makes the argument that beauty, in any form, can be used as a way to improve
the world. The form of beauty that I witnessed was a group of people dancing
and roller-skating through Central Park, a sanctuary within on the busiest
cities in the world. They used their bodies to create a sense of joy and peace
that, though was just temporary, left me feeling hopeful upon leaving. The joyful
unity within the barricades, transcended outside of the barricades and left a
mark on the people who watched the event. The beauty that I witnessed that
afternoon made me temporarily forget any wickedness that was happening in our
world. The people at the event put aside all of their differences to join
together and have a good time, they left their differences on the other side of
the barricades. Seeing all of this, I could not resist smiling, in awe, at the scene
before me–and honestly, I never wished I could roller-skate more, than in that
moment.
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