I will admit that there are many things to love about NYC: subway system, pizza, Central Park, shopping, people watching, limitations on how much fountain soda I can buy at one time... *sigh* So amazing, NYC. But one thing that can be hard for me to process is the level of hubris that seems to be attached to NYC. It seems to be the general attitude of New Yorkers that this place is the end-all, be-all thing in the whole wide world, maybe even the whole wide universe! Not to be insensitive at all, but I suppose 9-11 didn't quite hammer home the sense of vulnerability that human beings should probably generally feel given our true place in the order of the universe.
Here comes Sandy, bawlin' and squallin' like a pro. She was talking shit about Irene the whole way, too. "Irene!?!? That bitch sneezed on NYC. She don't even know. I'm gonna put my pimp hand, which I always keep strong, on Jersey and NYC, ya feel me!?" BAM! There's no "gonna" here, y'all - she DID get you, sucka! So now there's water in places there shouldn't be and trees down and houses burned to the ground and a lot of shit just doesn't work. That's what happens when Mother Nature gently reminds us little homo sapiens that, well, we really aren't that in control of everything. Sandy said, "Oh, you have a 108-year old subway system that humans built over the course of many years that runs amazingly smoothly day in and day out and moves millions of people around every day!? I can fuck that up in 12 hours. How you like me now!?!?"
Today there are people on the news bitching about the buses that are up and running (never mind that the workers got right back to it to try to get the city moving again). One guy was railing (no pun intended) about how a train can hold 1,000 people and a bus can only hold 40. The implication was that the trains should be operational ASAP. Apparently this guy, and maybe many other myopic New Yorkers who are hurricane/natural disaster novices, don't know of the tons of minutiae that exist in the subway systems alone. Let me just offer a quick perspective from an outsider.
First, the subway is indeed intricate in rail lines and tunnels alone. That's a given. There were MANY stations underwater Monday morning. Obviously a train can't pass through a tunnel of water. Second, the water creates issues for having an electrical current (when the power can be restored) run through the third rail. Then there's the issue of what type of damage the water creates for the turnstiles where we swipe our Metro cards. Perhaps those are not going to come right back up and be operational. After all this water is removed, there will most likely be mounds of debris left behind since too many of the fair citizens here think the tracks serve as a garbage dump. So cleaning that up takes some time, too. These are just some of the complications in a nutshell that relate to the subway alone.
After this, there is the issue of power in general. Much of the equipment exists underground and apparently salt water is very, very bad for equipment that is so technical and complex. Hell, water in general is probably not a great match for such critical power equipment. Repairing this problem is not a quick fix. Couple this with the places that are served by overhead lines which are down and the electricity issue will be dire for a few days. I wish these people could process the fact that Mother Nature is way more powerful than NYC could ever hope to be. Ike showed us that in Houston. Patience is a virtue following a natural disaster. I'm sorry you can't move at your helter skelter pace with a Starbuck's in one hand and your iPhone in the other, but pump the brakes and relax.
Then there are the people who complain that enough either wasn't done before the storm for people or that enough isn't being done now to clean it up. To the former, there were only days of warnings about the storm to help you know the impending doom. Honestly, I think many people believed that it would be Irene, pt. II - the little storm that couldn't. If you chose to sit tight, that's your decision. Every news story about this storm for about three straight days prior to its arrival called it "Frankenstorm" or "The Perfect Storm." Yes, even the weather gets hyped up crazy amounts today, but that's because we have the scientific knowledge and technology available to really understand what's about to happen. So if you chose not to heed these warnings and stay where you were that's on you. There were shelters open and announcements about when the subway (MTA in general) was going to cease operations. To be succinct, shut up whiny chick on the news. It's not the government's job to cart people's asses off - they warned, they clearly told certain folks to evacuate, they provided very plain, straightforward info about transit and what people should do to get to safety. That's their job, and they did it.
To the latter who are complaining about everything from trees being cleared out to the transit system getting going, you can shut up, too. There is no fairy dust to sprinkle on this to make it magically go back to normal. Trees can't be cleared if live power lines are nearby. It takes time to assemble man power and mobilize people to take action for these issues. Right now trucks are going down my street that are carting away tree debris. People are doing what they can, but one thing New Yorkers can definitely use more of is patience. Sandy doesn't care about the pace of life you want to live. Zip your face and remember your place in the world, little insignificant dust in the wind human being. Check your ego and keep life in perspective - Halloween doesn't fucking matter right now (yes, that has come up numerous times), your ability to zip around in the subway is not important for the moment, and kids missing a few days of school won't kill them. Some kids may not have homes right now, or power, or could have a family member who has been injured or killed due to the storm. Everyone just keep calm and shut the hell up. Things will get back to normal, but not in a New York minute. It's time to roll on Mother Nature's time table, not yours. Sit tight, stop bitching, and for God's sake, quit driving around needlessly. Take it from a Texan who went through Ike: life will be uncomfortable for a minute. All we can do is be thankful we are OK and ride out the aftermath. Life could always be much worse.
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