Take a Walk With Me

One of my favorite things to do in Oakland is take the long journey around Lake Merrit. If you love people watching, if you enjoy a good walk to clear your head, or if you're searching for the perfect setting for a gorgeous sunset, this place has it all. Whenever I need a chance to de-stress, or I simply need to get my 10,000 FitBit steps in for the day, I come to this majestic spot for a cleansing. It's quite amazing to experience the different facets and worlds within this 3.2 mile journey around the water. Every corner has its own unique character qualities- there's a long stretch of the run where people have picnics and grill out, a playground elsewhere with a next-door field where kids can play and run around, a boating dock where the young and successful stop for a drink at sunset, a gondola on the water with music serenading young lovebirds, cement blocks where people sit down to eat bagged lunches, and the pillar tunnel where hippies bang on drums and smoke weed. Indisputably, though, the most spectacular sight to withhold is the incredible diversity of the people sharing in this experience. Lake Merritt is the quintessential image of the beautiful differences in race, gender, culture, religion, and economic status: Homeless tents camped right next to the blanket of a hipster restaurant owner and his girlfriend, the working mom jogging behind the double stroller while a local rapper sings out of his worn-out boom box, the local circus talent riding unicycles while blowing trumpets, or business clients out for some fresh air. Without fail, I am brought to a moment of wonder at some point on this weekly circular pilgrimage I set out on. I grew up in the Midwest. It's a great culture with amazing people and decent weather for six months every year (that's probably being generous). There's beautiful fall leaves, apple picking, sledding, and many other regional distinctions. Some of my dearest and deepest friendships still reside here. It has many unique and beautiful qualities. What it shies away from most often though is diversity. While Oakland and much of the Bay Area still suffer from similar economic disparities that still hold the racial dividing lines in much of the locale, there is a different sense from the people here; a sense of barriers being broken down and people choosing to live among each other in spite of being different. It's certainly not perfect, and much of this movement is still infantile. Yet still, here along the Bay, spread across the paths of Lake Merritt and beyond, there is a sense of togetherness cultivating among people who have very little in common beyond a common residence that is this beautifully complex world known as Oakland. My walks around the water give me hope- a hope that is not just for Oakland to claim, but for every community in every part of this country. We live in a nation right now so concerned and obsessed with what makes us different from each other. If we can legitimize our fear of "the other", then we can build up our white picket fences (or walls), live among people who look and live only as we do, and we can continue to blame our differences on our lack of understanding and progress. The reality is, just like with our money and possessions, we can become greedy with our communities. We want familiarity and comfort, and we are willing to distance ourselves from those we deem a "stranger" rather than the momentary discomfort of breaking down these barriers, which ultimately builds up communities. I wrote a song once (it wasn't very good) that had a lyric that said this- "Our money will lead to progress, our progress will lead to greed. And greed is the catalyst of a world that bleeds". You see, I believe that money is not the only thing we can become greedy with. We are greedy with our time, with our resources, with our homes, and even with the idea of community. We fear that if we let someone else in (a stranger, an outcast, a refugee, an immigrant, etc.), we will lose something that we value, something distinctly ours. But Lake Merritt reminds me daily that this is FALSE. Our differences are what makes our communities thrive and grow. They give us new experiences, new foods, new ideas, new people to care for and be cared by. It's the most cliche phrase out there, but we truly are stronger together. This community thrives when it belongs to everyone. From the first time I walked this beautiful loop of epic randomness with my family (pictured below), I have never and will ever again want to go back to seeing the world any other way.

Give me it in its magnificent fullness- hippies with drums and all.