TOUGH NEW YORKERS

This is a subway air duct at the corner of 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, one of the busiest intersections, across from the Port Authority. Imagine the thousands if not millions of feet that tramp on this grate every day and the hundreds of cigarette butts tossed carelessly into the grate. There is no dirt here except from the grime of the city. The only water it receives is from the rain and exists with very little sunlight. No plant food, no Miracle-Grow, no fertilizer except from an occasional dog. There is no gardener to provide tender loving care, talk with it and encourage it. It is entirely on its own in the New York jungle and survives.

Despite the disgusting and appalling conditions, this vegetation is not only surviving but thriving. It never quits despite the most loathsome and appalling challenges. It WILL survive.

This typifies many New Yorkers who have a dream and work hard to make that dream come true. When New Yorkers set their mind on an achievement, they succeed despite some of the highest hurdles or, in this case lowest humiliating conditions.

Perhaps a new logo for the city should be: “New Yorkers are as strong as subway air shaft plants” Perhaps not, Dave Letterman’s writers would be working overtime with that material.
Nevertheless this made me stop in my tracks and ponder the tenacity against all odds.