The City That Can

Over the years, whenever something negative happened in New York City--an awful arson, brutal murder, subway strikes, blizzards, racial conflicts--many Americans not from there, perhaps a few Californians, would shake their heads and congratulate themselves for not living on a rocky island famed for tough talk, hardheartedness and needless urban hassles. Perversely proud New Yorkers have never been accused of humility; they know they live where the Hudson River and Gowanus Canal merge to form the Atlantic Ocean.

After Tuesday, Americans are shaking their heads again, this time with profound admiration for that city’s stamina, stubbornness, courage, compassion and the leadership of its controversial, quirky mayor, Rudy Giuliani.

In the last year Mayor Giuliani, who’s earned much credit for enhancing New York’s livability and much criticism for some policies and fights, has confronted cancer, a messy divorce and his term limit. New Yorkers expect their mayors at disasters. This week Giuliani’s strength, eloquence, sensitivity and calmness set an inspiring example, not just for New Yorkers but for anxious Americans all over the country.

Americans need not become Yankee fans (thank goodness) to salute the people of New York for the ways they handled and survived likely the deadliest day in national history. We witnessed countless acts of selflessness, heroism and compassion by firefighters, police officers, doctors, nurses and other extraordinary ordinary citizens. The unidentified men escaping with thousands of others down a World Trade Center stairwell who paused to portage a woman in a wheelchair down many floors, not knowing what the next minute would bring.

When was the last time you caught yourself praying for New Yorkers? Or congratulating them, as we do here and now?