Leave the Pleasantries in Beantown

No one will ever convince me that Boston is a real city. Impossible. Come to New York City for one day and you will see exactly what I mean. The sub-way doesn't stop running at midnight, movies are shown later than 10 p.m. and as per the cliche, there is always something to do. Home to more tourist attractions than any other city in the United States and one of the most diverse populations in the world, New York has a right to be proud.

It was a painful separation last fall when I left behind the city I love, but little did I know that what I would miss the most wasn't the museums, the restaurants or even the free concerts in Central Park, but the New York attitude.

Living here my whole life I never really got the opportunity to appreciate how differently New York (or New Yawk if you prefer) natives behave. Even those who have only been to the City once (and even Boston natives know what I mean by that) can pick out a New Yorkers in a crowd. How can I put this nicely? We're a distinctive group. Yes, New Yorkers are rude, and damn it, we're proud of it. We're loud, we talk quickly and we have a tendency to run over the slowpoke tourists that flood our city. And why not? As residents of the greatest city in the world we tend to look down at everyone and everywhere else.

Yet, that is not the complete truth. For every story of apparent rudeness, I can match it with a story of kindness between strangers. Just the other day I was on the subway and a little girl started coughing hard. Instead of just ignoring her, my fellow passengers offered the child and her mother a seat, a supply of tissues and some water. None of this surprised any of us--this is an ordinary event in New York. People hold doors, give up their seats on public transportation for pregnant or elderly passengers and always help out in an emergency.

Just because a city native is less likely to tack on meaningless pleasantries to his or her comments doesn't mean that he or she is being mean. Underneath that gruff, hurried exterior New Yorkers are human beings too, with the same compassion and caring that mid-Westerners have. But strangers will not get a "hello, how are you?" from us--why should they? Do we know? Do we honestly care how they're feeling? No, of course not and such superficial behavior is beneath New Yorkers.

But the New York attitude is more than "rudeness." For those of us fortunate enough to grow up here in the Big Apple, elitism comes as naturally as breathing the heavily polluted air. As any of my friends from other cities will tell you, I'm the first to brag about New York and its offerings and I'm very quick to dismiss its alleged flaws.

The stereotypical aggressive, opinionated, arrogant New York attitude is personified in our mayor. No where else in the world would Rudolph W. Giuliani's chutzpah be tolerated, yet it is precisely what New York City natives love about him. Rudy's no-nonsense attitude and willingness to take a stand, even when that opinion clashes with the generally accepted stance, combined with his deep appreciation and love for the city and its culture make him the perfect mayor for us.

There is good reason for New Yorkers to react so strongly to Hillary Rodham Clinton's still unofficial Senate run. Being a heavily Democratic city, the problem isn't necessarily with her politics, but with her home state. Clinton is a skilled lawyer and certainly a talented politician who could probably adequately represent New York, but she cannot have passion for things New York. Why else would her first major political move be to proclaim her love for the New York Yankees?

Clinton recognized early on the biggest stumbling block to her campaign would be her outsider status. It is my attachment to the New York attitude that made adjusting to life outside of it difficult, but I managed. I can now admit to the virtues of Boston (though I'm still working on smaller cities), say "have a nice day," and even speak more slowly. My first instinct when strangers talk to me for no reason is no longer to edge away nervously, but to smile and be polite. I must say though, that it is a relief to be home among my own kind where I don't have to put on an act. Though I have to come love Cambridge for its beauty, charm and relative quiet at night, my heart still belongs to New York where passion for cultural diversity and brutal honesty rule.