A Multitude of Heights, Lights and Sights

In Here Is New York, E.B. White wrote “To an outlander a stay in New York can be and often is a series of small embarrassments and discomforts and disappointments.” I cannot lie. I was once a victim of this awkward fact many years ago when I first witnessed the city’s heights, lights and sights. Growing up on Long Island, it was never easy to venture into the city to take up some of the unique opportunities that New York has to offer. The two hour road trip to the city is very lengthy and seemed at times to be unnecessary and a “waste of time.” Before moving into the dorms this semester, I’d consider myself to be a day-traveler, a mere visitor who sadly resembles a foreign tourist stumbling through the city’s streets for the first time. As a traveler, or a commuter I should say, I was only focused on the arrival and departure times of various means of transportation.

Since moving here, I’ve become more adventurous and doing things outside of my comfort zone. I agree with White when he wrote “New York blends the gift of privacy with the excitement of participation…” People can go along and live their lives in privacy with the shelter of protection that New York provides. Or they can get involved and be active participants of society and live an equally enriching life. As White said, New York “seldom seems dead or unresourceful.” Everything is at one’s fingertips, so long as he reach out and take the risk. Success in future endeavors is certainly possible if you utilize the numerous resources available in the city.

White references that “it is a miracle that New York works at all.” I’ve never actually stopped and asked myself “How does the city operate and function on a daily basis without collapsing at any given moment in time?” But after reading this piece, I think I know the answer; White says it in the most accurate way using the most appropriate terms possible: “Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.” Each person who comes into New York plays a specific role and has a purpose in supporting this self-sustaining city. Even the boroughs are self-sustaining, and subsequently the neighborhoods within each borough are responsible for their own survival and growth.

It goes to show that New York City is an extremely diverse empire, ranging from slums to skyscrapers within just a couple of blocks of one another. These features that make the city what it is are in balance, allowing commuters, natives and settlers to mold New York in such a way to make their lives more fulfilling and accomplished. As a new settler, I hope I’ll be able to set myself up for success in the “concrete jungle where dreams are made of.”