Fireflies and Manhattan

I had the most unusual afternoon during my last visit to NYC. One afternoon, I was walking from 20th street uptown to attend a play reading, then suddenly, at the corner of 8th ave and 28th street, I saw a man carrying an umbrella in one hand, while his other hand  was palm up. He was trying to protect a firefly from some light drizzle. At first I thought that this man must be a bit cuckoo. It wasn't until I looked closely that I actually saw this firefly, hovering 3 inches above his palm. The sky was getting gray and dark, and this man had become the temporary caregiver to a dainty firefly.  I was mesmerized. This was as surreal as a Fellini movie. As I walked a few feet further, right at that magical corner, I saw hundreds of fireflies, fleeting in and out of small hedges in that small piece of green in front of a tall apartment building. Everything seemed so contrary to my expectation. Who would have thought that there would be a quiet tranquil piece of green in front of a drab 40 storey building along 8th Ave? I had to stop and take this moment in. Then a woman stopped beside me and said, "Isn't this amazing? I always stop when I see the fireflies". I asked her if this is a common sight. She said "Yes, they only come out right before sunset.,and when it's quiet". I said " That's strange, it's such a noisy corner to me, with all the cars honking loudly either at the passersby or at the car in front..." She said, "but they have a different sensibility, they just feel the quietness of their space, they don't hear what we hear." Wow, I suddenly realized what "true quietness" meant - got to learn from the fireflies... Right then, I was yanked out of a Zen moment by several loud thunderclaps, then drenched by the pelting rain. I began walking briskly uptown, my eyes caught up by the dramatic silhouette of tall buildings against the ghostly sky. Occupants standing in front of their tall windows, looking down, watching us "crazy pedestrians" running for shelter from the heavy rain. I could not take my eyes off these ominous shadows - I wonder who looked more crazy at that moment, "us" who were running like mad dogs for a better shelter on the wet pavement or "them" who were secretly gazing, trapped behind their safe windows, wishing they could join in the running, the crazy commotion, the frenzy, the feeling of the wet, hard rain and the smell of refreshed city  air...