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9-11. Day of Darkness and Night of Light
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9-11: One of the darkest days in American history and certainly the most horrific and traumatic for New York City.
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For me, it represents a kind of awakening through the otherwise terror and uncertainty.
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It was on that terrible night that, wandering around Central Park like a zombie with my one dog at the time, I noticed seemingly for the first time, ducks and geese swimming peacefully on the waters of the Jackie Onassis Reservoir.
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I stood for a long time just listening to their honks and quacks pierce the eerie, still silence and watching then move like flowing poetry on the water. The skies above were deathly quiet and empty as all airline and other traffic in or out of New York City had been suspended and there was the strange smell of burning metal in the air.
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But, somehow watching the geese and ducks freely flow and communicate on the water as if nothing had happened gave me fleeting sense of brief comfort and the feeling that despite all the loss, assault and untold horror, eventually, everything would be OK.
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Real life can be exceeding cruel and punishing. But, somehow, through it all, nature and human decency prevails.
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I will always be grateful for that feeling of hope, renewal and temporary healing the geese and ducks gave me that darkest of all nights.
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Post Primary Day Realities
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To no one's surprise (other than perhaps, Christine Quinn) results from yesterday's primaries in New York City were pretty much as predicted in polls.
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De Blasio (D) and Lhota (R) both won big, their primary bids for Mayor.
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Scott Stringer beat out a tarnished, but personally well funded, Eliot Spitzer for Comptroller and Gale Brewer beat out a number of candidates for the democratic nominee for Manhattan Borough President -- a position she is sure to win this November.
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The one thing learned throughout this elective process (especially for mayor) is that negative campaigning and the politics of personal destruction work.
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One can effectively argue that mayoral candidate (and heavily favored to win), Christine Quinn deserved much of the criticism she got.
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But, it is hard to argue that any candidate deserves the targeted, personal and relentless daggers of vitriol and destruction that were hurled at one of the first serious female contenders for mayor in New York City.
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I personally cannot recall anything quite like it -- except perhaps similar (but lesser degree) campaigns waged against Hillary Clinton when she ran for President in 2008.
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For her part, Christine Quinn appeared to be in much denial throughout the campaign and did not seem to take seriously or confront, the scurrilous attacks against her. Perhaps she was advised to ignore or "rise above it" all, but if so, that was a mistake.
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Quinn's tendency to say, "When I am mayor" in recent debates came off as arrogant and delusional -- especially in the face of her plummeting in polls.
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I personally did not understand why Quinn didn't parade her two rescued dogs in TV commercials, as de Blasio put forth his kids in order to appeal to various constituencies.
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But, perhaps it would not have made significant difference.
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One thing for sure: You cannot stick to tired, old, "positive image" campaign formulas when being attacked on all sides and from every direction.
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Perhaps in fear of being further labeled, "bully" or "bitch" Quinn tried to adapt a syrupy sweet image that did not quite mesh with her otherwise fighting spirit -- something that in politics, can be admired when done for the right reasons and under the right circumstances.
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In any event, Quinn is done now.
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De Blasio will surely be NYC's next mayor.
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And though many others celebrate victory for this man running on a seemingly divisive platform of "Tale of Two Cities" and vague, pie in the sky promises, I remain skeptical in judgment.
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I believe that four years from now we will still have goose slaughters in New York City, (assuming there are any geese left to slaughter), horses will still be hauling carriages filled with tourists and two of New York City's five boroughs will still be without full service animal shelters.
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One of the others things learned throughout this campaign: Promise them anything and hope that they have short memories.
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Meanwhile, the one candidate who has previously stood up for the protection of geese in New York City, won her bid for Public Advocate, beating out four other candidates for the majority of the vote (36%) last night.
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But, Tish James didn't really "win."
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Since failing to garner 40% of the vote, City Councilwoman, James will be in a runoff against second place finisher and State Senator, Daniel Squadron three weeks from now.
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Squadron has the endorsement of popular, US Senator, Chuck Shumer (D) who has been a long time supporter of goose culls in New York City.
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Councilwoman, James on the other hand, was a featured and passionate speaker against goose culls in NYC during two rallies for the geese in 2010 and 2011 -- including one in front of City Hall.
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It is true that even should she eventually win the office of Public Advocate, Tish James would not have personal power to stop goose culls in NYC. But, she can continue to be a political voice for our forever tormented geese and a more powerful one than now.
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Should James ever succeed in eventually becoming mayor of NYC (though that is doubtful) I personally am confident goose massacres in NYC would finally come to an end -- presuming we still have any resident geese left.
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One cannot help but wonder now, if James had the full endorsement from animal advocacy groups, that she would not have been forced to compete in a runoff now?
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She had only needed a few more percentage points to win the nomination outright.
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I am not proud of many of the actions (and non-actions) of my fellow animal advocate colleagues throughout this election process.
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Chalk it up to lesson learned.
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The Twelve Year Anniversary -- Where Have All the Geese Gone?
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"Presuming we still have any resident geese left in New York City" (during next mayoral run).
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On this twelfth anniversary of 9-11, one of the things that has significantly changed in a dozen years, is that we no longer have any geese "flowing" through and around the Reservoir in Central Park.
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In fact, there are barely any geese in Central Park at all.
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The only one I know of -- Cago at Harlem Meer -- has recently been deserted by the two geese she had befriended and who had accepted her over a period of a couple of weeks.
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Once again the same old questions:
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Did the geese leave on their own or were they harassed out of the park?
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Why did they suddenly leave?
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Why did Cago not leave with them?
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I don't know the answers to any of the questions and can only present guesses and speculation.
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I only know for sure, that what gave me sense of solace, hope and comfort on that dark day so many years ago is all but vanished from Central Park and many parts of New York City now.
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The geese provided solace and comfort and we provide torment and death to them in return.
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Sometimes it does not feel good to be human. -- PCA
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