Semi-Abstract Insecurity

This is a sculpture by Judith Peck, a semi-abstract statue. I’m not sure how new this sculpture is. I am frequently here, this is the train station in Ridgewood. I visit my mom quite often, taking the train. I grew up in the Bergen County suburbs, just across the border from here in Paramus. Mom still lives there, she’s 90! Ridgewood was always a step above on the socio-economic scale, especially back then. I never noticed this statue before. It appears in the picture a lot bigger than it is, it reality is only about three feet high I reckon, the size of a child. You can see influences of Rodin as well as primitive art. I like the blanket, the wrinkles in the cloth, and I like the way the child clutches it, how her other hand seems so nervous, touching her ear, You feel the insecurity of childhood and you also feel just by being here, everything is safer. You feel responsible for her safety. You feel that you are part of that safety The statue seems to say something about childhood as well as an adult’s perception of childhood. We all think about our childhoods. I’m not saying we dwell on it, but we think about it. I remember stuff from when I was a kid all the time. Going back home is pretty much routine for me. It’s not that I had an unhappy youth—or one that was just unhappy—but as an adult, the suburbs did not make me happy. When I go back I am always having an internal debate with that inner child, although that debate doesn’t impede me from enjoying my family or the ambiance of the suburb, the small town. Ridgewood is a quaint little town, a small downtown district coalescing around the train station. It has long been a haven for financial types—train right to Hoboken, PATH right to wall street. People move to the suburbs for their children, for the family. Wall Street types clustered here. Some folks want a backyard and fresh air for their kids, however misdirected that belief may be, they honestly believe it is better for their children. I think that’s why this statue was selected for this spot. If indeed family values must to be instilled, at least it’s being instilled by a pretty compelling piece of art that suggest none of the political themes the term family values usually invokes. It’s a cool looking statue. It’s an admirable aspiration. It’s on the Hoboken-bound side. Commuters pass this statue on the way to their jobs. There’s double digit unemployment in the financial sector, and it’s easy to say GOOD! since corruption, greed and under-handed business practices on Wall Street let George W. Bush flush our economy down the toilet. But the reality is, those who lost their jobs were just doing their jobs, just trying to maximize and make stable revenue from investments for people. Honest people are suffering on both sides of the Wall Street equation. There was a story on NPR a few weeks ago about how hard hit Ridgewood had been from the financial downturn, how there are more, mainly men, unemployed in this upper middle class enclave than in other towns in New Jersey—a pretty fascinating statistic given the high unemployment state-wide. We’re all as insecure as this child is—I wonder what they think when they see this sculpture, those lucky enough to still have a job but are working twice as hard still wondering if they will be the next to go as well as those who do not have a job, haven’t had one for months and months, who no longer need to take this train. I don’t know who Judith Peck is, but she has a website--http://www.judithpeck.com/.