Hidden Beauty

Recently several of my friends and I have started venturing around the city of Philadelphia and going to different abandoned sites, some old and abandoned factories and schools. What we have been doing is called urban exploring and for those of you too lazy to Google the definition if you are unsure, I will do that for you. It is something I find myself enjoying as you come across interesting items that have been left behind and breath-taking views of the city. So far the place I enjoyed visiting the most was an abandoned grade school that was just off my college's campus which we were able to walk to. It was only a few blocks away in which was a surprisingly nice neighborhood as compared to the general row homes that are located in North Philadelphia. As we walked through the school it had a bit of an eerie feel to it if you think that 20-30 years ago these halls were filled with young children who had copious amounts of energy and now it is just a building full of trash(Popeye's?), old books and most likely home to some resident. I found old test scores of students with their full names on it, while I obviously will never put a face to those names it is still weird to look at. Many of my friends were able to find different things around the school, some found records from a music class or a children's book from the library but no matter what it still amazes me all this was left here.

After walking around the school for a bit we made our way up to the roof of the school which was easily my favorite part of the adventure. It wasn't like any roof of a school I have seen before as it had what seemed to be a blacktop playground on the roof of the school. This was probably due to being in a city and having the lack of space to build around the school, so they had to build up.

Above is what the roof looked like, a giant caged area but with basketball nets and plenty of space to run around in. Obviously you can tell it is abandoned the second you look at it by the blacktop being broken at parts, graffiti, broken basketball nets and flooding. While it may not be a beauty now I am sure coming up here during the day was the highlight of many students when they were young and now it is virtually nothing. On the sides there are exits to the cage that lets you walk to the edge of the building and at the end of each side of the building there is a ladder that can bring you to even higher height and giving  you a beautiful view of the city.

While the view is beautiful I do wish we were a bit closer or higher but by no means is this disappointing. I just find it weird that a building as big as this could be just left to crumble. It is an area of the city that seems  to be building itself up and it has a view that many people wish they could have. Even if they remade it into something other than a school I don't understand why something with so much potential is left to waste away and rot and have a negative impact on its surrounding community.

Though honestly as I think about why we left this to waste, it became pretty apparent that our society just wastes something every chance they get. People sometimes don't realize the usefulness or beauty of something that is standing right in front of them and probably wouldn't realize even if slapped them in the face. Whether it is because they never cared or they have just become to comfortable with what they have. We can all be guilty of this, I work at the National Constitution Center in Center City but how many times do I brush off all the history in there? Or even the beauty of the area surrounding it? After working there for so long sometimes I take it for granted, I am blessed to be in such a position to be able to educate myself not only on the Constitution but down the street is Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. I love everything about this city, it feels like home to me but even I can fall into the trap of complacency.

Assuming you watch Netflix and have a half decent humor you probably recognize the name of my blog. If you don't well then you are a poor poor soul who has been deprived of the best comedy TV show out there. My friends and I found this gem while we were walking through the school "There is always money in the banana stand." I love this episode and those scenes in Arrested Development and I feel that it applies to what I am talking about. (Don't you love it when things work out like that?) Michael's father George had made a banana stand to help raise money and promote the family business. Just before George was sent to jail he stored $250,000 cash (spoilers!)  in the walls of the banana stand but when his father uttered those words "There is always money in the banana stand" Michael never took them seriously and never looked at what his father was saying. Eventually he burns down the banana stand without realizing that there was money lining the walls of it. Not only that but Michael soon realized that the banana stand was one of the few things in the family business actually creating a profit for the company.

People should take a look at everything around them, find the things that have hidden beauty, find the people that care about you whether it is a family member or a friend. Find those things and cherish them because they deserved to be cherish. Trust me, it is easy to skip over the things that care about you or true beauty in life if you aren't looking close enough.

More importantly NEVER burn down the banana stand.

*These photos were taken by my friend Evan! If people want I could find a way to upload them here possibly or talk to him see if he can upload them somewhere and I will link them!*