A City On the Move

New York is a city on the move. People work hard and play even harder and they don't suffer slowpokes gladly. If you want to take it easy, stay home. But if you're a New Yorker and you're hot to get somewhere, it seems only right that your fast track should remain unobstructed. And yet, at almost every turn, New York pedestrians who are ordinary and able-bodied constantly gum up the works. Walking to the department store for the big sale, you try to pass them as they amble along four abreast. They lack that sense of urgency. Don't they know this is New York? Up the narrow stairway as they leave the subway, the lumbering stair climbers sometimes seem to be in the majority, as they prevent the folks in a hurry from enjoying their quick exit. The audience filing out of the theatre hardly moves at all. Okay, maybe they're thinking about what they've just seen, but can't they do that when they get out on the street, or better yet, when they settle into a booth at their favorite restaurant? The walkers in the city should be alive, able to move quickly and energetically, almost unstoppable as they make their way to and from the attractions of the city. I mean part of the problem is there's so much to do, you can't afford to be stalled too much. That museum is going to close, that gallery is ending its exhibit, that free play in the Park has only one more day in its run. How will we do it all, especially when half the city lacks the urgency to insist on that must-see thing? Why do they live in New York anyway? Don't they know that if they don't hurry up, they will never be able to witness this unique, unrepeatable event ever again?