It was warm last Thursday, unseasonably so, as I walked home from the East Side. I was not alone. The sidewalks were crowded. I crossed Park Avenue, walked south for a bit, and then headed west toward Madison Avenue. I noticed that many of my fellow New Yorkers had been shopping. They were carrying those distinctive bags, small and exquisitely tasteful, used by exclusive boutiques. As I walked west, the shopping bags changed a bit—more department stores, the maroon bag of a popular doll store, and the flashy bags from stores that sell expensive athletic shoes or the latest phone equipment. As I headed home, I suddenly realized that at the bottom of each one of those bags there was something precious.
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