New York Daily News - News

New York Daily News - News No place like home

The heart & hope of the world
beats louder here than anywhere

Thirty years ago I moved to New York and have been thankful for that choice ever since, even on my very worst days and nights in this town. I can think of no better place to live and do not even feel completely alive if I am any place else for too long.

New York always wins, because of the nature of the human factor that rises up to and goes over the top with more surprise, charm and vitality than any other place of which I am aware. That does not make Paris or Rome or London or Nairobi less than what they are, but none of them can compete with the urban heart of the world that is New York City, where everyone's ultimate metaphor for city life is the nature of the subway at rush hour. Everyone becomes accustomed to moving over so that at least one more can squeeze in.

New York is where one gets used to other people and comes to witness how other people become used to this town. Being from Los Angeles, I was very familiar with the Mexican population that came right up over the border. For the past 10 years or so, Mexicans have been coming to New York after having ventured up to Chicago and all points east. But they are not the same Mexicans in New York that they were in Los Angeles because this town remakes everyone who comes here.

Once a newcomer takes on the rhythms and realities of New York, that newcomer knows how to handle the pace and the demands and the overwhelming indifference that this city projects when everyone is in a rush. They are in a rush to get to work or to do the job that will keep the income coming in or will make possible the promotion or the betterment of the private business.

That is only the hard part, which means that you have to have heart and stamina to stand up to the madness if you are going to live here. But the hard part is not the only part, or none of us could stand this town. The reason we can stand it is because its millions of people, its millions of apartments and businesses and lights and streets all add up, finally, to the mighty throb of the human factor that will not be denied. New York may beat you up, but if you are strong enough, as most of us continually show that we are, it will never beat you down. That is why New York is, like the line goes in the blues, "a lighthouse on the dark sea."

When it comes down to it, as I will never cease reminding those who so easily forget, New York showed the world how to spontaneously maintain compassion and courage on Sept. 11, 2001. That was the day when sex, race, class and religion were all secondary to whether or not one was in danger. Then this city of the supposedly too self-involved stepped up and continued to step up. That kind of unrehearsed bravery made it very clear why we should all be thankful to call ourselves New Yorkers. We represent the heart and the hope of the world.

Originally published on November 23, 2005