Following Noah's lead, I will take it upon myself to welcome myself back from my 5 day long stay in New York City. A large contingent of my family lives in New York so I'm no stranger to the place. But being in New York for the first time without parents allowed me to put some things I've always noticed about New Yorkers into light:
* They're all obsessed with shopping. I used to just write this off to a culture of japiness, whatever that means. Now I understand what's behind it: in New York there's so much to buy, and so much of it is good stuff you would want, as opposed to the stuff you can buy around here.
* They're status and image-conscious. Then I realized, when you're from New York, it's not like you live in a rich town or a poor town, you live the same place as everyone else. The only way to define yourself status-wise is to wear it on your sleeve, literally.
* They have this sense of self-importance, like they're living at the center of the world. Because they do, at least financially speaking, and probably commercially as well. They have every right to be proud and self-important. New York is a microcosm of everything that works about America: open free society, capitalism, lots of ethnic diversity melding harmoniously - and it works so well that it's the greatest city in the world. I think that's something to be proud about. Going from one amazing building to the next, I couldn't help but think that these buildings are the equivalent of royal palaces in other countries, except the difference is that in this country they're completely open to anyone and everyone. And then I thought that's what makes our country great.
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