A Glorious Place to Live

47% of New Yorkers speak a language other than English at home. There are more Irish here than Dublin. More Jewish here than Tel Aviv. It is the most multi-cultural city in the entire world. It’s the main reason the UN is based here.
Add to that the fact that there are over 8 million of us living in 22 square miles and another 12 million commuting in and out of the city and what you get is an atmosphere dense with diversity. Every time I step outside my door, I hear different languages. I am in constant contact with people of different background, histories and ethnicities. The idea of America as a melting pot started and continues to thrive here. What this type of complexity produces is a culture of “live-and-let-live.” Some might say people here are simply jaded, but I prefer to think of it as complete and utter acceptance. If you’re a bald man who chooses to dress in drag, no one will look at you twice. An albino with a red afro? Please. I saw him on the Q last week. Here’s a short list people I saw the last three days that might cause a second look anywhere but New York:
1. A bearded man in business suit….and pink leg warmers.
2. A man with a dragon tattoo….on his face.
3. A woman in thigh high boots and a teddy. That’s it. On second thought, she may have been working….
They were able to walk down the street, ride the subway, hail a cab…and not only were they not harassed, no one else really seemed to notice them.
When my mom was here and we spent a week frantically trying to furnish my apartment, she found herself carrying a floor lamp eight blocks up Broadway. “Anywhere else, I would feel conspicuous,” she said. “But in New York, no one bats an eye.” In this city, you are constantly bombarded with people of all different shapes, looks, cultures, and backgrounds. They are on top of you all the time. There simply isn’t the room or time for judgment.
In other areas of the country – Boulder, CO even Seattle, WA, people’s look and language is rather consistent. Wander into a random Portland bar and you’ll see so many Horne-rimmed glasses and tight jeans, you’ll wonder if you’re at a Moby look-alike convention. It’s easy to stand out in a place like Portland (if you wear contacts, for instance). In New York, it’s nearly impossible.
I was telling this to my friend Helen at work, and remarked on how much I loved the fact that people didn’t react to idiosyncrasies the way they did elsewhere. “Everyone always talks about that,” she said, “but I think they give us too much credit.”
“You just haven’t been out of New York in a while,” I replied. “The minute someone commented on your outfit or the fact you have a ‘boy haircut’ you’d get completely annoyed.”
“You’re right,” she said. “If a stranger gave me a weird look or made a comment on something I was wearing or saying, I would feel completely affronted. What business is it of theirs?”
“Exactly,” I said. “But New York is very special in that respect.”
New York is one of the most tolerant cities in the country because it has to be. Essayist EB White said it was essential. Without this acceptance, “it would explode in a radioactive cloud of hate and rancor and bigotry.” So here New York sits, home of the world’s largest synagogue and the world’s largest Protestant Church. Home of bald drag queens and Fox News. The harmony in which such diversity exists is quite special, and as someone who deeply values this idea, it makes New York a glorious place to live….and let live.