I believe the grid in Manhattan is more of a practical construct than anything else, with the influx of people in Manhattan, more space was needed, so a grid was created to protect that space.  The unintended consequences however was that too much land was developed creating a lack of public land.  I believe this was necessary to make Manhatten inhabitable and was a necessay evil. I also think that more cities should use a grid, while still maintaining the balance of protecting nature.

Ask me about it.

    Space is one of the most difficult things to define in the world.  One can ask someone  to define it and they will say it is the realm in which all events occur. Another may say it is what is outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, outer space.  A quick Google search pulls up the definition, “a continuous area or expanse that is free, available or unoccupied.”  I would have agreed with all three of these definitions at varying points in my life. However, after a period of deep reflection on the true meaning of the word, I find that I have crafted my own personal definition of what space means to me.  I believe that space is the realm in which all events occur, but I believe that definition is irrelevant and unhelpful.  If I only know a fraction of the world’s population, how am I to know what events occur on just this planet.  That is impossible, and we are just one tiny rock in the vast expanse of space, the realm in which everything occurs and exists. 

    Since it is impossible for me to take part in SPACE, I believe that what is more important is “Our Space” or the space in which we hold sway and it holds sway over us.  This sway, is more than just physical placement of objects, control of how events occur, or absolute dominance over our realm.  Sway is the effect, either tangible or intangible, that we have on “Our Space”. So how does one perceive space, analyze it, and what senses are used in the process.  Since whatever has an effect on us, or we affect is “Our Space” then we define what Our Space, or space that has meaning, is. This meaningful space is analyzed with our emotional mind just as much as our rational mind. We perceive it and think about it not only as a physical thing, but the space can be the emotional feel of the room, or the pattern sound follows when it echoes.  I believe that the principle ideas used to analyze space are quite simple, what meaning am I giving an event, and what meaning am I giving everything around me. 

    I think that it is very easy to overlook the intangible parts of space and focus only on the physical world around us. It is easy to forget that the space and the meaning assigned to Our Space come full circle and affects us as well.  

    I believe that this idea of space is most useful when  applied to difficult emotional situations. However, that is not to say it could not be applied to daily life, in fact, I believe that if it was applied to everyday life, then most of the difficult emotional problems that arise from a lack of awareness of how we affect  Our Space would cease to exist. I believe that the feelings associated with Our Space are just as important as the actual contents of Our Space. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the feelings are part of the contents. 

    Take for example some Holocaust monuments; even people who have no history with the Holocaust can be overcome by emotion at the emotional power these monuments have. They can leave this space, take with them these feelings, and hold on to them for the rest of their lives. This is a powerful example of the power of the effects of Our Space. If a person was to give this feeling a negative or bad meaning, to say to themselves that, “We, as human beings are Disgusting,” then he will take that meaning with him his whole life and will look at people as disgusting.  If he takes a positive meaning, and says to himself, “It’s amazing the power of the human spirit,” he will do just the opposite.  I believe that space is less an area, and more of a collection of experiences and our current experience that we carry around with us.  Because all of our past experiences affect our current one, the spaces we visited or lived in 20 years ago, are still affecting us now. 

    I believe that the future applications of this idea are quite simply a new way of thinking and approaching problems.  If we take into account all of the past experiences we have had, and are aware of the meaning we give them, then we can act accordingly and compensate for our emotional turmoil in our decisions.  I believe that this would help people to live and find meaningful lives that could greatly increase their quality of life.  On a more worldly level, I believe that foreign policy could use this belief to account for the prior experiences that other nations have had in dealing with them to create a better sense of understanding which would promote peaceful relationships. I believe that the idea of Our Space is important to living a meaningful, satisfying, and impactful life; which happens to be my ultimate goal.