The Old And The New

This past week I went to Boston. I hadn’t been in years and I certainly don’t remember much of that trip so I wanted to go again. I wanted to see the city that was a city before there was even a country. I wanted to see the places where the book I’m reading takes place. I wanted to imagine what it would’ve looked like 200 years ago. But as it turns out, I didn’t have to imagine too hard.

We got there and there was this instant sense of history. We walked up the stairs from the train to find old brick buildings surrounding us. Later we would discover we were mere feet away from the site of the Boston Massacre. We would explore the Quincy Market where, though the shops are new and food more...imaginative than it may have been in the 1800’s, it still had that marketplace feel. We would walk the Freedom Trail and see old churches, state buildings, cemeteries, Paul Revere's House, and the church where he hung the lanterns warning the people the British were coming. The alleys between the brick buildings were almost too tight for a car, some turned into walking paths in the older part of town. It wasn't hard to imagine a time when walking or a horse drawn carriage were the main forms of transportation. No need for wide roads for that.

Then there was the U.S.S Constitution. Though the majority of the ship had been refurbished so it wouldn’t sink (it was 200 years old after all), it still was cool to see this beautiful sailing ship sitting among the newer construction. Oh how I wanted to climb up into that rigging! I wanted to sit up as far as I could go and look down on the city below, imagining what it might have been like to sail into the harbor.

Not everything was just as it was 200 years ago though. Boston Commons, where the original purpose was to give the cattle grass to eat, now serves as a park for visitors and residents. I looked up to see an old church steeple standing out against a new glass skyscraper. The aquarium now takes the place of the docks where the ships would find rest. Yachts, speedboats, and fancy sailboats now replace the frigates, brigantines, and schooners. But the ocean is still the same, the brick buildings still line the streets, and the history survives. The old mixes with the new to create a flourishing city both functional and proud of its history. As it should be, seeming as it was one of the first cities in this beautiful country.

As a country, as humans, we have become so used to just throwing something out or tearing it down when it's old. Doesn't matter if it still works, it's so last season, it goes away. I couldn't tell you how many times I’ve watched an old pharmacy get torn down just to build a brand new one in its place. What a waste! When Boston needed stations for their underground trains did they tear down all the historical brick buildings to "make room for progress"? No. That brick building we saw that was the site of the Boston Massacre was actually cleverly disguising a train station. Sure, the Quincy Market building was redone on the inside to be up to code I’m sure, but the outside was as beautifully old as ever. The old cobblestone streets still intact where possible, the old churches still in use, the old state building turned into a fancy restaurant.

You don't have to tear something down to make room for "progress" you just have to use your imagination and make what’s old new again. That's how we should progress. That's how to preserve this country’s history while still making room for all the new shiny things. It will be a very sad day when we realize that all that’s left of our history is a meaningless plaque marking a spot that no longer has anything to do with what it is supposedly marking. Boston did it right. I think it's time for the rest of us to follow their example.