Dear New York

Step with me into the main room of Grand Central Terminal where Brandon Stanton, author of Humans of New York, has installed his visual love letter to New York. For two weeks, all ads in the whole terminal have been removed and the ordinary New Yorkers from each of the five boroughs are displayed to the world.

The people of the world have flocked to view the art installation as massive photos flash onto the pillars and hang silently on the walls. Seeing people, people from everywhere – maybe more than we’ve ever seen in Grand Central before – is in itself an eye sensory experience.

Dear New York: Shabby, chic seemed to be the style of the lady applying makeup on a crowded train this morning. The little girl talking into a plastic cell phone could be an Asian princess. I’d hire the man with a backpack and paint-splattered jeans. The older woman in a pink-knit sweater top calculates her Con Edison bill after reading the New York Times. The mother with a child on her back and the shaggy, black-haired older son walks by selling candy. A two some dressed for the office seriously discuss the partner who isn’t playing fairly. The bearded Muslim Uber driver tells me about community in his country of Algeria. The waiter talks about the police in his country of Nepal.

New Yorkers of every tribe and race, we love you.  God does too, a lot more than I do.

Berniece