Still Here

It seems like every day there's a new article about how COVID-19 and now racial strife are causing some New Yorkers to move permanently to places far away, to places cheaper, less dense, more rural (and let's face it, more white), and overall less crazy than NYC. They see NYC as in decline, going back to the "bad old" days, they're scared about what the future of the city holds for them, and, since we're clearly in a time of crises, they're "outta here."

So leave! Fine by me!

Here's the way I see it: living in NYC is an investment of money and endurance. Basically, a test of sanity. But the payoff, the benefits, passing that test, and the joy of living here far outweight the problems and challenges. There's a lesson in investing in the stock market -- when there's a big downturn or even Gawd forbid a crash, the last thing you do is pull all your money out of it. Because while the present moment, the moment of crises, is very scary, in the longterm the crises eventually passes, the stock market recovers -- sometimes dramatically, sometimes even bigger and better than before.

Operating out of fear, making huge life changing decisions in the middle of a crises, is the worse kind of decision making. Only after the crises has passed, and stability (to some extent) has been restored, can rational decisions truly be made. 

NYC has weathered many crises in its history, both past and present -- "Fear City" and the near bankruptcy in the 1970s, the crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, 9/11, the financial crises, Sandy, and now COVID-19/the racial turmoil in the streets. 

And guess what? We'll have more crises in the future! But NYC is more resilient than anyone can possibly imagine -- we always come back, we always have, we'll survive  this present crises, and we'll come back from future crises as well. 

Just like other great world cities -- think Rome, Paris, London, Tokyo, and others which survived having literal bombs reigned down on them -- the five boroughs will endure forever.