Thursday, July 7, 2011

THE BRIDGE TO EVERYWHERE

No surprise that life is a life-long pulling and tugging affair. There's always something just up ahead pulling and drawing us on to it; then something just behind tugging and calling us back to it. Case in point -- my home town Chicago in this summer of 2011.

Along the lakefront, Bono and his U2 band are rocking Soldiers Field with a multi-million dollar concert extravaganza. Talk about new? Change? Future? Here's where you can see, hear and feel it from a stage roaring with sound-and-fury signifying everything the 60,000 fans want to experience. From the opening "Even Better Than the Real Thing" to the finale "The Joshua Tree," U2 is the tomorrow its fans love to love.

Meanwhile along State Street, the historical landmark entrance-way to the old Carson Pirie Scott store stands as a stunning steel-lacework throwback to the architecture of the 19th C. Now a successful newcomer -- big-box retailer Target -- proposes to re-interpret this landmark status by allowing their big red logo to gleam from behind the lacework. As their advertising argument goes: present meets past, no one loses, everyone wins!

Most fans at Soldiers Field probably don't much care who wins or loses this architectural debate. They never shopped in Carson's grand old State Street store anyway (now known as the Sullivan Center). Anymore than they did in Marshall Field's celebrated store further up State Street (now known as Macy's). I mean, come on guys, this is 2011. Lets rock. Working up a sweat over grandma's shopping days isn't very relevant, man.

Still, there may be a bridge somewhere between State Street's cherished yesterday and Soldier Field's exciting tomorrow. Upon closer inspection, that bridge is already here. The bridge called life. On which we all walk everyday. The young trod the starting steps on one end and the elders the finishing steps on the the other end. Easy to see why each may see the journey from a different perspective. However, here's the secret to the plot....

...we're all traveling the same bridge. We all share the same journey. And we're all doing it at the very same time. We may not always be able to hear exactly what the other is saying from their end, but whatever it is, it's all coming from the same bridge. And we all need to be be sure this bridge holds. I mean, lets get this generational thing straight once and for all. Be it the rocking young at Soldiers Field or the reminiscing elders on State Street, we're in this thing together,

1 comment:

  1. WOW, NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT IT THIS WAY. GO, JACK, GO JACK!!

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