New York City…until recently, I had only looked upon this
place as the backdrop to many films I watched, or the comics I grew up with as
a child. Of course, everyone
in the country recognizes New York for many different reasons. Recent history gives us all a different
picture of the Big Apple, of course I refer to the events that transpired 11
years ago with the destruction of the World Trade Center. I can’t say that I am much different
anymore. Talking to natives about
the city on that day helps me have a well rounded perspective. This took place 3 weeks after my
brother’s death. I was
already infused into a chaotic grief with his suicide. On August 20th, my world
changed…forever. On September 11th,
I knew the entire planet was changed, and would never be the same again.
On
September 18th, 2012 Zak and I entered the city. I could fee the energy from across the
Hudson, or maybe I was just dumbfounded by the sheer enormity of the
place. Of course it is
sweltering with energy, there’s 8 million+ people living in confined
quarters. Still, there wasn’t the
hostility that the rest of the country associates with New York. I never found myself in a situation
with a New Yorker where I felt they were being rude. I’m sure they have their share of assholes, in a city that
dense, it’s impossible not have too.
What I am saying is, I never experienced any.
What
I did find was that the average New Yorker is just extremely busy. It isn’t considered a rude gesture when
they don’t pay you any mind. Their
busy people, they have shit to do; places to go and people to see. After spending an after noon with my
homestay in New York, she pointed out the obvious foreign nature of my
behavior. For starters, I held the
door open for most people. This
isn’t entirely strange, but it isn’t a natural phenomenon for you average
citizen to do. Most city folk
leave the door open wide enough for the next person to grab, me, I held the
damn thing wide open and let a flow of street traffic file in.
The last morning in the city, while
sitting on the front stoop, I pronounced a good morning to an elderly woman who
was walking buy. She reciprocated,
and I followed with a how are you doing?
She gave me an odd look and stopped. “Do I know you?”, she asked. “Not at all. I
just wanted you to know I cared.”
She continued her inquisitive stare as she began to walk away. I don’t consider this behavior to be
rude. Like I said before, these
people are busy folk. It’s a
highly condensed city in such a small area with a plethora to do.
It
seems to be part of the cities energy and ethos. So much diversity of people tightly condensed into such a
small brew. It is a beautiful
melody ot the chaotic order of alchemical magic. Ok, taking it to far, but New York is a living entity, with
each individual person being a singular cell. Now I have never been to Tokyo or Beijing, but I am gonna go
out on a lim and assume that said cities are not nearly as diverse as New York. I will allow you, the viewer, to decide
if I am incorrect. In the small
amount of time I have spent in New York, I was witness to a wide range of
culture. Never before in all my
life, have I been in the midst of such extreme diversity. New York City is an ecstatic place with a highly potent energy
about it.
I
don’t know if I could live in the city.
It isn’t the pace of the place, more so than the high density of it
all. The energy of the city
can be quit intoxicating, but power that permeates through the city is not just
confined to the area of the city in and of its self. There is something that brews in the area. While concentrated by the masses in New
York, the trail continues up the Hudson valley. Perhaps it was what was waiting for me, or it’s simply the
energy of the isolated natural world that lives outside of the metropolis.
