Most of the time, we New Yorkers are hardly bothered by the frivolities of the things we are surrounded with. When I say New Yorkers, I mean the people who have been born and brought up here or those who have settled here after a considerable amount of time. For us, the things that the rest of the nation or the tourists consider extravagant and extra-ordinary are really just part and parcel of life. Most of us just pass the Empire State Building as we pass just any other building. The bagels with lox and schmear have just become a part of our diet and the Statue of Liberty might as well be holding a basketball in hand, most of us won’t move an eyebrow. Nonetheless, we take pride in these things of our city; at least when we meet with non-New Yorkers.
There are many things New Yorkers will pass by as part of the day and not realize its true value as well. The best example I can give you is of the World Trade Center Towers. When they were standing, they were part of the daily city view; when they fell, they left a void much deeper not only in the view, but also people’s life in New York. So, yes, I agree, we New Yorkers do forget the beauty of things we take pride in and I realized this when I became a tourist in New York and visited those famous tourist destinations. Believe me; we all need that from time to time because we tend to forget the true beauty of the things we take pride in. The Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Central Park, Grand Central, New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, Wall Street, Madison Avenue, the bagels, the deli, the Broadway and even the ‘only in New York’ moments. We all knowingly or unknowingly love these and take pride in them. But with time we build prejudice about them. The Empire State is just a building; the Statue of Liberty is just a big statue, the Knick, Giants, Yankees, Jets, Mets are just teams… ah… maybe not, we love our games, but you get the point.
Luckily, there are events that invoke the spirit of the city. The parades are the best ones among them with there being at least one every month till November. Right from January’s Chinese New Year Parade to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in November we have vibrant, colorful parades that enhance the pride we have in our city and diminish the prejudice we hold against it.
