Did you ever visit the site of a building that has been demolished and taken away? The space that it took up as a building was massive, but the same site without the building looks so small. I guess it is some sort of optical illusion or factor of perception. I have never been to the 9/11 Memorial in New York, but I am guessing that same thing applies to that site.
I am thinking of my former Junior High School building on Main Street in Slatington. Originally it was built as a high school but by the time I arrived there, it was our Junior High School. It was a beautiful building. An orangish brick. Wider than deep but still taking up an entire block. Stairs in the front leading up to two entrances. the entrances have words carved above them: Girls, Boys. High up, near the top of the building, were carved quotations. The only one I can remember is With All Thy Getting Get Wisdom. Interestingly, when they tore the building down, they saved the carved quotations. I hope they get put to some good use. Last time I saw them they were lying in the dirt behind the Borough Maintenance Building along the Slatington Rail Trail.
Inside the building was beautiful, though worn, as well. A beautiful auditorium was the centerpiece, complete with balcony. Cafeteria in the basement, the site of junior high dances. A lab in the basement below the basement. How cool is that? The place was also filled with memories.
I am not sure when the building was torn down, but the citizens of Slatington did a wonderful thing with the site. It is now a beautiful little park, right on Main Street. I drove by the park the other day and thought to myself that my junior high could not have possibly fit in that space! But it did.
I am sure there is a lesson in there somewhere about peoples’ perceptions, or about the importance of buildings in our lives, or even about treasuring things while they still exist.
But all I can do when I drive down Main Street, and see the little park, is shake my head and say “No way”!
A Semi-retired Kind of Life 