I was just taking one of my early morning walks. I\u2019m trying to remember to get up every couple of hours and leave my computer behind and walk around the block. Otherwise my back and neck turn to steel. Lately I\u2019ve been writing mysteries and it\u2019s easy to get stuck on my chair and in my brain as minutes turn to hours.<\/p>\n
Anyway, today is Monday and often on Mondays I see New Yawkers pull into the Triplex Parking lot eagerly depositing their trash in the dumpsters. Could be Gorham and Norton\u2019s or 20 Railroad\u2019s or Baba Louie\u2019s. Today, it was two spiffy looking guys in their thirties and their Mercedes SUV who, without a moment\u2019s hesitation or embarrassment, took their white plastic garbage bags and strolled over to 20\u2019s dumpster.<\/p>\n
I grew up in New Yawk and used to be a full-blooded New Yawker. During my many years here, my blood has thinned in the New England air and I have lost my city filters. I can\u2019t do the city for more than a few hours these days. Too many people; too much of too much for my tastes.<\/p>\n
But I haven\u2019t lost my appreciation for the city game. A dumpster exists. It\u2019s there. The garbage exists. I have no idea what one of those Mercedes\u2019 SUVs goes for but I\u2019m assuming if you\u2019ve got one, you can afford to rent your own dumpster. It\u2019s also possible to put the garbage in the trunk and take it back to the city. But why?<\/p>\n
I think New Englanders look for the best in people. Even if they can\u2019t actually pull it off sometimes, they were taught about humility and modesty and caring about their neighbors. They are like lambs waiting to be slaughtered.<\/p>\n
Like waiting patiently on line and taking your turn at Guido\u2019s. New Yawkers don\u2019t believe in lines. Lines are like traffic. A New Yawker wouldn\u2019t think twice about swinging his car into the three inches of empty space between your car and another on the West Side Highway going sixty-five miles an hour. The worse that can happen is you\u2019ll swerve to your death. According to the city game, if you\u2019re not willing to die, you shouldn\u2019t be on the West Side Highway to begin with.<\/p>\n
So do you really think it\u2019s reasonable to expect that one of these guys won\u2019t pretend he got to meat counter before you? <\/p>\n
That\u2019s just about steak. Can you imagine when we\u2019re talking about real estate? When the money really matters. And with just a little unrelenting pressure and several re-negotiations later, you can get the cutesy farmhouse for ten thousand less.<\/p>\n
New Englanders sometimes make the mistake of imagining this is about Jews when it\u2019s really about the city. An Italian, the Irish, the Wasps\u2013 they\u2019re all just being New Yawkers. Have you ever tried to ride the subway? Have you ever tried to hail a cab? These are Olympic sports. Nice guys don\u2019t finish. You can politely stand at the 59th Street station and patiently wait for the folks to exit and the women and elderly to enter, and you\u2019ll be there all day waiting for an empty train. <\/p>\n
New Yawkers know you can\u2019t win a war without spilling a little blood. And you can\u2019t ride the subway without some sharp elbows. And that, above all, it\u2019s not personal. If they run you over, steal your seat, or get to the prosciutto before you, well, they\u2019d do it to their next-door neighbor.<\/p>\n
New Yawkers and New Englanders remind me of Republicans and Democrats. They\u2019re playing the game of life with different rules. It\u2019s like the New York Yankees. They\u2019ll do anything and everything to win. Fans of Kansas City or Toronto and even Boston will talk about how it\u2019s not fair that the Yankees spend so much more than everyone else. That they routinely buy the World Series. Thinking that the Yankees or Yankee fans would even spend a moment thinking about fairness. Like that matters somehow.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s what I mean about the lambs being led to the slaughter.<\/p>\n
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
\nSave your cards and letters. Mickey Friedman knows that there are New Yawkers who care about other people and will wait patiently on line. He just wants more of them to visit. And, he wants you to know that this is not personal.<\/p>\n
Thursday, February 11, 2010 \u00a9 Mickey Friedman – All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was just taking one of my early morning walks. I\u2019m trying to remember to get up every couple of hours and leave my computer behind and walk around the block. Otherwise my back and neck turn to steel. Lately I\u2019ve been writing mysteries and it\u2019s easy to get stuck on my chair and in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":5,"menu_order":978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P5pvz8-s","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28\/revisions\/236"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mickeyfriedman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}