I sat there for over two hours, letting the spirit and the unrelenting beauty and strangeness of North Adams take me in its arms. Everyday, people drive in and out of the Kmart parking lot. Car doors open, and the occupants streak to their destinations with heads down. Shoppers with merchandise in plastic bags leave Kmart for their cars, their heads also down. Teenagers hang out by the doors and smoke, the boys yelling at the girls, and the girls laughing at the boys.
Old ladies turn their faces from the wind and wait for their rides to pull up.
Off Furnace and Walnut Streets, houses look down on that scene as they have for more than a hundred years. The scene has changed many times from up there, but the scene on the hill has changed little. The steep roads of North Adams, carved out by necessity in these hills, are a symbol of struggle and triumph against strong odds. They are also a blessing, a source of endless beauty that enriches our lives and make us who we are. Sometimes I wonder if Down There ever looks Up Here.