New York is Sin
New York City, the “Big Apple”, an apple that is guarded by a serpent, and rotten to its core, and yet millions find themselves taking a bite each and every day. With its congested streets, closet sized apartments, insensitive pedestrians, and never ending chaos, its unfathomable as to why anyone would wish to visit, let alone live year round. Yet with its gleaming towers, abundance of opportunity, beautiful diversity, and ability to warm the coldest of souls, it’s an enigma as to why anyone would live elsewhere. To those experiencing New York for the first time at a conscious age, one of two things can occur, fear of the unfamiliar can squander ones experience, or curiosity can overcome and drive ones experience. Unfortunately for most natives fear or curiosity are not options; but a mere acceptance, of New York. To natives New York is an accustomed inconvenience, and an unappreciated marvel.
Going to sleep in the peaceful darkness and silence of Stroudsburg Pennsylvania, in comparison to maneuvering the shades in a way that the streetlight shines through the window as minimally as possible, dozing off to the lullaby of police sirens and stray cat brawls, in New York City. Waking to fresh air as your car awaits you in the driveway, where you spend ten minutes driving to your humble privately owned dentistry office, in comparison to waking to the smell of strong bitter coffee, and leaving abruptly to sit in the traffic of the highway or the heard of the subway, to reach the 37th floor of your office. New York is meant for a certain type of person, not to suggest only one type of person inhabits New York, but within the diverse crowd of people, one thing is shared, love for complexity. “By comparison with other less hectic days, the city is uncomfortable and inconvenient; but New Yorkers temperamentally do not crave comfort and convenience- if they did they would live elsewhere.” (E.B. White, Here is New York) Not only do you need to find comfort in such a traditionally uncomfortable environment but you also must be willing to take risk. Ability to acknowledge danger and still take risk is what separates New Yorkers from most others; whether the risk be understanding that success is rare and failure is as abundant as litter in the subway, whether it be walking late at night past druggies and muggers, or whether it be understanding that New York is a prime terrorist target; here today in shambles tomorrow. “It can destroy an individual, or it can fulfill him, depending a good deal on luck. No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky.” (E.B. White)
Why would a mother stand on the subway with a newborn child in hands, at 2 am? Why would a businessman drop $350 dollars in homeless mans coffee cup? Why would someone help their neighbor take a mattress down the stairs when they are late for a business meeting? Why would a Chinese immigrant and a Venezuelan immigrant, both speaking very little English routinely sit next to each other on the bus, mustering up the words to say good morning? What in gods name would possess a mother of triplet infants to venture out in the hustle and bustle of New York with three car seats in her backseat and a triple stroller in her trunk? My mother did just so, and finds it completely in the parameter of normality, admitting difficulty, but completely within the confines of sanity. Bringing us to Central Park, various museum exhibits, theater productions of Barney, book stores, the Times Square ToysRus location, etc. Completely absurd to non-newyorkers yet the drug we call New York City produces such behavior. With an abundance of marvelous amenities to be found in NYC it’s easy for natives to overlook them and become almost numb to their existence. As New Yorkers we must understand it isn’t a normal occurrence for all citizens of America to go out and indulge in Korean barbeque, authentic cannolis, moussaka, tandoori chicken, and fresh eel. Being one of the largest centers for cuisine, shopping, arts, and culture it’s easy to accept such an environment as the social norm. “Whoever is born in New York is ill-equipped to deal with any other city: all other cities seem, at best, a mistake, and, at worst, a fraud. No other city is so spitefully incoherent.” – (James Baldwin)
One of New York’s best attributes is its ability to instill hope within the hopeless, its ability to foster courage within the cowardly, its ability to mature the immature, its ability to tame the wild, its ability to free the socially imprisoned, its ability to ground the egotistical, and its ability awaken the spirit of New York within everyone. All of the flaws of the city are overlooked with all of the fulfilled and unfulfilled promises. Things occur in New York City that are unheard of anywhere else, that make for great conversation starters, and stories when visiting family elsewhere. These occurrences are excused solely for occurring in New York, “that’s New York for ya”, “what did you expect? Were in New York!” “Typical New York!” “But the city makes up for its hazards and its deficiencies by supplying its citizens with massive doses of a supplementary vitamin-the sense of belonging to something unique, cosmopolitan, mighty and unparalleled. …” (E.B. White) New York is a city full of sinners, indulging in the apple that brings them such frustration and joy.
