11 September 2011

 

UNDER THE WATERFALL: Patrick ButlerI did not cry when the World Trade Center Twin Towers went down on Sept. 11, 2001. It was shocking, yes, but as a mid-town Manhattan resident for a number of years, I put myself in the place of my fellow New Yorkers and tried to imagine what the survivors must be thinking. After a time of watching TV on 9/11 I thought, "They must be madder than hell itself about what happened here today."

One thing people must understand about New Yorkers is that they don't lay down for anybody. Nobody. At anytime. Never. That's a  blessing and a curse for Big Apple dwellers. They are simultaneously stubborn to  a fault and a strength to be admired. Ask me how I know this. I live with it daily in my New York DNA and can't seem to shake either aspect of "stubborn." It's maddening because I still get it wrong when and how to apply tenacity at times.

New Yorkers can be intransigent people, from the Madison Avenue shopkeepers to the Battery bus drives to the Con-Ed workers, to … just name it. You get the picture from the movies; "they're walkin' here,"  or "Fhugged about it." There is an element of truth to that "street-level" defiance that gets most New Yorkers through tough times. 9/11 was a huge event, but no exception to New York's nerve to survive just about anything.

Reconsider the famous photo of those three firemen hoisting the the American flag at a destroyed Ground Zero. Do you think those firefighters are asking for our pity, sorrow of feel-bad tears? No way. They are saying, "Hey, we're still here, you not-so-nice-expletive-adjective-for-terrorists."

New Yorkers put up with kinds of craziness on a daily basis and take it in stride. They laugh about it, shake their heads about it, yell about it some, shake it off, move on.  Sometimes they help each other to their credit. Sometimes they don't to their shame. Every one in Manhattan remembers Kitty Genovese or the Central Park jogger. Bad memories, everyone knows. "Let's don't do this again," they say. But on 9/11, New Yorkers put it all aside and prayed for each other, wept for each other, then dusted themselves off and moved on with a new goal in mind for the people who did this dastardly, cowardly and evil thing to them - do I have to spell it out what their new goal was?

Were the churches full in New York after 9/11 ? Yes. Did people pray on the streets? Yes. Did they seek God's face to get understanding, ask for healing, to obtain mercy, protection and defense from their enemies? To heal the families of victims? You bet. They were cut badly and they knew it. Big Apple dwellers are tough but they aren't stupid. They know when they need a "cut man" in their corner.

But New Yorkers didn't cave, fold, quit, shrink back, step back, fall back, fall down or fall apart. They said, "You failed, terrorists." In an amazing archetypal attitude one sees in movies such as "Rocky" they bandaged their wounds, stood back up and collectively said, "Is that all you got?" I think many residents in Texas, where I live now, understand this attitude.

I know this sounds boastful, audacious, prideful and even arrogant. But it's necessary to have lived in New York to understand how this works. It's a "stand up or die" attitude. "No excuses," attitude. It can drive you crazy living there if you are a touchy-feely person as I am a good part of the day. But read the biblical account of Jonathan and his armor bearer who went up against the Philistine army and sent them into a panic. This armor bearer, whose name we don't know, "killed Philistines behind Jonathan as they came after him." (1Samuel 14:14)

To me this describes New Yorkers. They have your back. They'll follow you into hell — such as a burning-down World Trade Center building - trying to get others to safety.  They'll do it because to not to means the bad guys win. And it will be a cold day in the aforementioned hell when New Yorkers let "bad guys" win. You may not know their names, similar to the biblical armor-bearer, but you've got to admire them.

To America's credit there are many places showing the determination, guts and glory that New Yorkers have, thank you God. Now, for those of us who look to God for protection, strength, humility, courage and wisdom, we pray that all Americans return to the One who is the "strong tower" against all physical and spiritual enemies. We pray that no one ever forgets God, who is our ultimate source of courage, insight and wisdom. We hope the churches fill up again, because more tough times are coming, assuredly. We need God to get through it in one piece.

But be very afraid you enemies of New Yorkers, because in the end you will not defeat them and they will never, ever forget what you tried to do to them. Ever. Never. Count on it.

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