Imagine Central Park

As New York’s surroundings gradually blushed with yellow, gold, red and all of autumn’s hues, we were fortunate to have another guided tour of its most popular park.

It’s the most exuberant time of the year and Manhattan’s crown jewel was aglow. Walking under vast umbrellas of golden foliage with two certified veteran guides from the Central Park Conservancy was a stroll through history, a lecture in science and ecology and a class on respect for rules and harmony. At some points it was what Thich Nhat Hanh said in his book “How to Walk” – a “no talking, just walking” pace when he once meandered around the park. Even though I was with a group of 13 other diplomats and spouses from various UN Missions, I kept in mind what the eminent Zen master advised about walking slowly and mindfully, paying attention to my steps and breath. I allowed the warm rays of the midday sun and the chilly fall breeze to bathe me.

During these moments I thought of what our guides Chuck and Martin said about how building the park was rigged with corruption because the mayor of New York in the late 19th century listed 18,000 names in the payroll who supposedly got paid 10 cents for every hour of “work.” Over 150 years had passed yet this story still appears recognizable to me. But decency and good governance ruled over the corrupt, the park was eventually finished after 17 years. Now an average of 43 million visitors from all across the globe flock to the over 800-acre lush gardens annually.

The gardens remain verdant from when the first 17,000 American elm trees and other species were planted. Chuck said how the trees had endured for over a century is an outcome of trial and error and methods backed by research. It turned out that the land where Central Park sprawls was covered with glaciers million years ago. Now we see them as granite boulders accentuating the park.

Beneath what appears arable soil are mineral deposits that devoured more than half of the thousands of trees that were initially planted. This prompted tree doctors to further research on tree and plant species that could best adapt and thrive, given the unique feature of the soil. Due to the unrelenting efforts of conservationists, park goers now get to appreciate the remaining grove of American elm trees and London plane trees all year round.

I wondered about the type of remedy or the extent of care the doctors had given to the trees that had outlived them. At that thought I subconsciously expressed my gratitude to the team of ecologists, for without their efforts over 250 bird species would be left homeless and the 2,496-plus squirrels (as of last count, our guides said, and yes, they have a way of counting them!) would not have places to scurry about.

Since I also visit pocket parks in the city or we hike with friends at nearby state parks, which teem with people except maybe in the winter, I oftentimes wonder how we can make our parks more welcoming and interesting. As a young girl growing up in the province who would occasionally spend summer breaks in Manila, I have happy memories of late afternoon picnics in our own Luneta with my siblings and cousins. I recall running under shades of leafy trees and playing hide and seek among the bushes. Eventually the outdoor excursions had stopped in favor of air-conditioned malls.

Central Park opens at 6 a.m. and closes at 1 a.m. all year round, yet within the five hours when it is supposed to be closed, our guides guaranteed that not one soul remains within the premises except the guards. While it receives an average of 115,000 visitors a day regardless of the season, food concessionaires are all around and picnickers abound, garbage has never been a problem.

There is an unwritten rule among promenaders that whatever one takes in should be taken out or thrown straight to any of the thousands of trash bins around. Inasmuch as visitors have a range of attractions and activities to do – from running, visiting the zoo, endless picture taking at the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, discovery walks and theater performances or boating in the summer – a first-time guest or a frequent park goer is expected to treat the place and its inhabitants as their own. As I see it, this sense of responsibility, accountability and the connection one creates by being or having been to Central Park is what makes it always magical.

The Literary Walk for example, the only straight part of the park where statues of novelist Walter Scott, poet Robert Burns and women’s rights pioneers Sojourner Truth, Susan Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton stand, may be frequented by those who share their interests and advocacies. Somewhere in the Western side of the park is the garden of peace, where Strawberry Fields and the Imagine mosaic were made in memory of the slain Beatles band member John Lennon who used his music to convey a dream for a more peaceful world.

The significance by which these markers were built finds deeper resonance these days. Strawberry Fields, a meaningful symbol of peace, is a bronze plaque embedded on a slab of rock donated by Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono and 121 countries, the Philippines being one of them.

Each time I accompany guests to Central Park, I make it a ritual to bring them to this area, if only to remind them of novel and enduring ways by which the pursuit for peace finds expression. At all times I would encourage them to queue up and have a photo by the Imagine mosaic. On days when we are lucky we would hear an artist strum his or her guitar and sing “Imagine all the people/livin’ life in peace…”