The Great Comeback

New York City has always been an interesting place to live - for better or worse. Either tends to be exaggerated. That's just how many New York folk see things. That latest: The Great Comeback. Exaggerated, of course, but in what sense.

For one thing, NYC and its environs, with all its pomps, is not “coming back” in any light and happy way. Example: report this week that Washington Square park has become a “drug den.” Shades of the 70s/80s, for sure. This weekend the cops clashed with the druggies.

Are there any positive comeback themes? The government, headed by one of the worst - if not the worst - mayors of my lifetime keeps crowing about a comeback. Of course, as is typical of governments, they lie. So whatever they claim must be seen in that light.

But rather than just dismiss everything that the vomits out of our mayor's mouth, it makes sense to instead recognize some of the lies, if only to protect ourselves. For example, crime. The claim is that subway crime is not really up; it's just being compared to last year when hardly anyone took the subways during the heart of the pandemic Mess. As for any statistics that clearly show crime in general, worse, violent crime, is up significantly, the latest claim is that crime will be dealt with (how?) as the city comes back. 

Having a vapid mayor is bad enough. But if people believe these lies, they put themselves in harm's way to some extent. Personally, since I live in one of the outer boroughs, I'm staying away from Manhattan. There's really nothing going on that's worth a trip. If you're heading into Manhattan, just be on your guard - and stay off the subways. That's especially true if you're older. Thugs love to rob and beat old folks.

Still, aren't restaurants open now, with fewer restrictions re masks? Sure, except one of my contacts who supplies restaurants tells me they can't get waiters or other workers. So they're really not back in the sense of being where they once were. Yeah, but they can stay open past midnight now. How exactly does that benefit the common good? As a cop I know told me years ago: Nothing good happens after midnight.

So the weight of evidence really isn't convincing in any truly positive way.

Then again, maybe I'm jaded. Am I just resisting the “coming back” propaganda for some reason or reasons.? Well, I won't back down from the exaggeration and lies. It's always been the way of government, and now it's reinforced by media in ways we've rarely seen before. Government and media now collude in the most egregious manner to push agendas, and will lie to support their agendas. It's just how things are now. So neither can be trusted.

Even more importantly, though things were heading south in our fair city before the Mess. So any "comebacks," i.e., returning to what was prior to the lockdowns doesn’t really bring joy. Crime was up, subways, always dirty and dicey when it came to safety, had taken one a turn for the worse. In addition, on a personal level, the city was already losing its appeal as a place to do business, or to go for enjoyment - for the most part before anyone ever heard of COVID. At least that was my experience. I had already curtailed hiking into town based on my being able to more and more work from home. And I had already decided that it might be time to avoid the subway altogether. Decades of filth, crime (less for a spell, but never too far away), being harassed by crazies (the city is chock full of 'em) was losing its appeal. And since our current mayor arrived, the familiar smell of bums was on the uptick - not a pleasant way to start the morning commute.

So I guess, whatever the reality, and wherever the City heads going forward, it’ll do so without me. And maybe we'll even make a break from our long-time residence, even though it's in the safest precinct in the city. But, not matter, whatever we decide I just remind myself to pray and seek to do God's Will. That's all that really matters in the end.

And if we do leave these environs, I wish those of you who remain all the best. I grew up during a pretty turbulent time and managed to survive. I hope you do too. Then again, I was a lot younger then.