Hey, New Yorkers…
Hey, new yorkers…
Less than a week since I arrived in
My first meeting occurred on the train between
This meeting was the first of a series which had stricken the little girl I am…
It seems that there is a specific method in
This impression is conveying both by the attitude of the people I see everyday, and of the people I meet in the street. Everyone is polite, try to help as much as possible, apologize when they rush you, in a word: new yorkers are really kind … as long as it is not engaging their feelings. They can share a smile with everyone around the world but what about sharing a few minutes chattingwith another New Yorker?
This conveys an impressive thing for somebody, like me who grow up in a little town before living in a city where it is admitted that everyone hates everyone by advance and by principle (yes, I am french, and I live in Lyon): New Yorkers have a fantastic potential for kindness which is not used enough …
And so I met lots of lost people, who come, in the street, or in the subway to chat with me after a few smiles exchanged and using the pretext of a match or something else. Each time, they make me speak about myself, in order to speak about themselves. They speak about their job, their dreams and especially about their families: children, grandchildren, nephews, each time I get an exhaustive list of the people they love (even if this word is never pronounced) and each time I get few precisions about where their relatives are living (often in New York) and the frequency of their meetings with them (it’s simple: this is NEVER … ).
Those people always warned me against dangerous people that you can meet in the street, without being aware that they are surely classified in those dangerous or weird people by lots of the new yorkers.
Nevertheless,
Why are communities divided according to areas, the clothing, the way you express yourself?
The paradox of
This lack of confidence in others is amazing in a city where there are so much communities represented. The diversity of
What about trying today, at smile to somebody you doesn’t know in the subway, or in a park?
So, new yorkers, what about trying to exchange maybe less of courtesies and more of yourself?