It has been many years since I walked the streets of New York; 18 to be exact, and my return to this magnificent place could not have been rewarded with a more beautiful day. The walk from Time's Square down to Ground Zero where the Twin Towers once stood, is wonderful, ironic and eventually somber. Wonderful in that the neighborhoods encountered along the way reflect the heart of much of New York. Ironic, in that as one approaches the spot that began the war on terror one could not imagine a city or a population more detached from and disinterested in the war. It is after all mainly left to people from other parts of America to tend to America's defense. Somber in that as one approaches ground zero one can palpably feel the organ that was ripped from the city some seven years before by bitter men claiming to be soldiers of God.
As disinterested as the average New Yorker may be regarding the ongoing fight against Islamic extremism, there are still vestiges of the spirit that makes this place one of the world's truly great cities. Leave it to the immigrant, that constant gardener of the American spirit, to express patriotism beyond the native citizen who has made the conscious choice not to serve his/ her country. I was, after all, on this trip to the big city on business and in the uniform of the United States Army. No particular sentiment was expressed to me, positive or negative by the disinterested passers-by. Yet when I hopped into a cab to go to my destination, upon reaching it I was informed by the driver that, "you no pay here". I was at first confused and thought I had to buy a ticket or pay by credit card but eventually the reality set in. The cab driver who possessed a thick South Asian accent (most-likely Pakistani) was telling me that my service in the Armed Forces of the United States meant something to him. So much so, that I was not allowed to pay my fare.
The immigrant, so long the back-bone of the American economy and the keeper of the ideals of liberty, once again delivered the ideal of America to a visiting soldier in an era where the native, non-serving citizen has long lost that capacity. So New York remains a great city, with great people who hold the city up on their shoulders while those in SOHO, or attending NYU or Columbia walk about in the haze of the unknowing, thinking that they are what makes this city tick. Let them be reminded that it is the cab-drivers, who yearn to send their children to such schools so that one day their children will have the right to be selfish and unappreciative of all that liberty means, who drive all that moves here. I am happy to be moved by them.
