When I was visiting my dad and his wife in Naples, Florida a few weeks back, his wife asked me if I could ever live down there. I thought about it for, oh, about .57 seconds and responded with a negative.
"Why not?" she asked. "Naples is beautiful, the weather is great, the beach is here, there are fantastic golf courses, restaurants, nightlife and culture."
She made some valid points. It is very nice for the 60+ leisure set with money to burn and it's clean and virtually crime free. I had some excellent dinners there and enjoyed the sunshine immensely, but it's just not New York. I had a hard time explaining why I couldn't live down there. I just kept saying that it's nice to visit, but not to live there. "What does Brooklyn have that Naples lacks?" she asked.
I didn't even know where to begin. I certainly wasn't going to tell her about my affinity for ghettos and interactions with crack addicts and whores. But there's so much more than that. First of all, she didn't take into account the fact that I live in Brooklyn, which is part of New York City, which includes Manhattan, the epicenter of the universe. Naples is close to, uh, Bonita Springs and Ft. Myers. At least Ft. Myers has some ghetto areas and an airport, but I'm not sure if it's international.
I don't need to get into all the wonderful aspects of New York City as you are all very aware like all the history, the architecture, the diversity and the fact that you can get a decent falafel at 3 a.m.
Something happened to me the other day standing outside of the Brooklyn Museum on Eastern Parkway that really summed up why I don't want to leave this city. As trivial as this sounds, an orthodox Jew approached me and asked me if I was Jewish. I responded, "No, but most people think I am." He then left. I have no idea why he asked me this question and I don't really care but it got me thinking that this would not happen in Southwest Florida.
And that's why I love New York and have no immediate plans to move any time soon.
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