Jan
6
Wish You Were Here
January 6, 2006 | |
Cut off as I am, it is inevitable that I should sometimes feel like a shadow walking in a shadowy world.
When this happens I ask to be taken to New York City.
Always I return home weary but I have the comforting certainty
that mankind is real flesh and I myself
am not a dream.
– Helen Keller
“I always knew you would leave for some big city. It seemed only natural you would end up in New York. But I could never do it… It just seems so–crazy. The pace, the noise, the pressure. Every one so transfixed on materialism…”
Yes, you may be right. I never considered city life to be easy. Nor do I claim it would be for you. But that’s the very reason why I think you’d love it. New York is not for the weak willed, but with a will like yours, I am confident you would find your niche.
Allow me to elaborate…
Being a deep thinker, a passionate seeker of life’s greater and more meaningful,
I feel strongly if the opportunity presented itself, you’d be up for the challenge.
You would love it there Kevin. Wether or not you choose to accept it, I know you would thrive in an environment that keeps your mind whirring. Feeding that incessant craving to expand your world. New York is the essence of you. It will rise to your challenge as well, and prove a place exceptional, worthy of struggle and intimidation. Yes, you would truly love it here.
And I understand your hesitation. May I remind you, I never planned on ending up here. I never visualized my future as a real estate mogul calling the shots to a team of 30 in the Empire State Building. I never fathomed a 400sf studio as my home and I never intended on spending $1373 a month for the privilege of renting it. I never visualized sharing a sidewalk with 1.5 billion neighbors. Nor could I conceive of calling central park, on oasis of nature. I never considered a Brooklyn accent charming, nor put up with standing in line, every Saturday, for an hour, just to consume a $8 gourmet burger. I never thought I’d endure 100+ degree summers and 10 below zero winters and walking mile in stiletto sandals regardless.
I never in a million years pictured myself living here, Kevin,
but I love that I do.
New Yorkers emote a great deal of pride in there city for many reasons.
The most obvious: The city asserts itself.
Only in New York will you find the culmination of all things great. Thriving Industries that drive our economies and dictate fashion. That develop our taste-buds and enhance our appreciation for art. That expose us to a multitude of religions, ethnicities and philosophies on a daily basis. It all flourishes here.
And the people that uproot their lives from all over the world to surround themselves with what is best described as an incredible unifying energy. A draw so powerful it’s no wonder our opportune streets are crowded. How could they not? Where else in the world invites any dreamer, without discrimination, such fantastic opportunity?
New York City is a microcosm of Social Darwinism. For those who live on the outer edges of the bell curve, Manhattan embraces. And if you can embrace the city back and call it your home, well, you’ve already got an edge over the rest of the world. In this town, even the bums on the street have an edge.
I admit, living in the big city can be a big challenge. A series of incessant mini-struggles survived only by the fittest.. And there have been many times I attest to pulling my hair out over the noise, delayed subways and 12.00 glasses of Pinot Gris. But these setbacks are minor. A small price to pay for the joys I reap for belonging here. In my mind, to transcend the urban stress and gingerly go about the routine sharpens character. Wherever you find a city in where the living is hard, you will find the hard characters living there who know how to whip it. Those who refuse to take the easy way out and are naturally energized by the challenge: The survivors.
And New York City demands nothing less.
So the best of the best are drawn here from around the globe, joined together by the common thread of opportunity. Quintessentially, realization of the American dream. Every second we are bombarded by multicultural interaction. This in turn broadens our dome of reality and henceforth rounds us out as not just Americans, but New Yorkers. My grocer is Korean. Cab driver, Pakistani. Masseuse, Japanese. I buy my jeans from a Namibian and tailor them by a Russian. My favorite mexican joint is run by Chinese. My hairdresser hails from Barcelona and accountant, German. And since we last parted seven years prior, I have fallen in love with an Israeli, South African, and an Australian.
Yes it may seem intimidating to one who has yet to allow New York to seep into their soul, but once you do…there is no other place in the world to live.
Up in the heights of the evening skies
I see my City float in sunset’s golden and crimson dyes:
I look and a great joy clutches my throat.
Plateau of roofs by canyons crossed:
windows by thousands fire-furled–gazing,
how the heart is lost
in the Deepest City in the World.
–Oppenheim
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