“Why are there so many police around?” I wondered as I took a stroll down 1st Avenue on a break between engagements. I was near the Queensboro Bridge at 59th Street and had just spent a few minutes casually uploading a photo or two of the stunning local architecture to Instagram from a gorgeous spot that looked out over Roosevelt Island, the East River, and the bridge. There was a policeman on every corner, which felt a bit much for what was seemingly an ordinary day like any other. Of course, being unplugged from the world for several hours meant that I’d missed the fact that Monday wasn’t just an ordinary day anymore.
On my walk back to the subway station that was to take me to an evening screening of the new Tom Cruise science-fiction movie Oblivion (sidebar: it is really bad and so not worth the cost of a ticket), I passed a café with a television set out the front and I saw the broadcast of a “breaking news” story: a series of explosions had rocked the famed Boston Marathon in the state of Massachusetts. While news and images began to filter out from the closing line of the marathon where the bombings took place, Boston’s mobile coverage was extraordinarily being turned off, and residents were told to stay indoors. Meanwhile, with New York just four hours away from Boston, there were obvious fears of local attacks and news had filtered out that extra police protection was being set up at major travel hubs.
Just like audiences used to crowd department store windows with television sets blasting the breaking stories of the day, today it’s more likely to be hoards of people at traffic lights with their eyes glued to their smartphones as they wait for the walk sign to appear. As I waited to cross the road into Grand Central Terminal this evening it was like a mass of zombies as everybody tried to discover the latest news by whatever manner they preferred. I used Twitter, but no doubt many used Facebook, local and national news services, and text messages also. One friend announced she was safe on Twitter, which certainly makes a compelling argument for the medium’s speedy effectiveness.
Despite all the outdated stereotypes of New York being dangerous, I have found on each visit that it is actually a remarkably safe place. There is always a healthy police presence whether there is an emergency or not. And, really, unless you’re walking alone down a darkened street after midnight there’s always somewhere you can go to protect yourself. But, then again, walking down darkened streets late at night should be a no-no wherever one goes. Today upon entering Grand Central, the presence was immediately noticeable. There was an obvious higher number of NYPD officers than I had ever seen before, plus the sniffer dogs and the bag inspection units. Times Square was especially busy as streets lined with blue and white police cars made for an imposing sight. That these bombings occurred on Massachusetts’ Patriots Day, a day to take stock in the service that these people provide, is a twist of irony on the whole tragic affair.
As of my typing (I am writing this some nine hours after the events happened) there have been three deaths and around 140 in hospital reported. Nobody has been implicated, but the resilience (a word that President Barack Obama used in his national address) of these people is remarkable. It will indeed be interesting to see how the city handles this sort of event. They have all too much experience in this field with a list of similar tragedies too long to mention.
Given the weekend’s news had seemingly been preoccupied by the latest public relations gaffe of one Justin Bieber (a gaffe involving, of all people, Holocaust victim Anne Frank), today’s events put a very real stamp on my arrival in America. Australia is one lucky country, because when you think about it, this sort of thing doesn’t happen often at all. It’s some comfort knowing that, at least, over here, we’re in good hands when it does.
