I Love New York (II)

There is a buzz of activity and life and hope in New York that comes from places other than its streets, avenues and parks. These sounds of life, energy, frustration and hope come from classrooms and specifically also from the hundreds of classrooms of the Lutheran schools of New York. I had to return to hear them again. I attended the Annual Dinner meeting of The Lutheran Schools Association of Metro New York. There I was with hundreds of those teachers and administrators who bring learning and opportunity and hope to those kids. The energy in the room was palpable. Laugher, and hugs, and conversations mingled with hugs and drinks and congratulations. It is a sad and yet profound truth that there are many areas in New York City where it is flat-out impossible to get any kind of a decent education in the public schools of that community. The system is broken. Parents who seek the alternative of a non-public (often faith-based school) will work three jobs including scrubbing floors to get their kids into one of those schools and pay the necessary tuition. There they meet teachers who care, who work at salaries way below their counter-parts in the public system. The teachers reach out to communicate with parents who in the case of one school in Queens spoke 19 different primary languages. They serve with commitment and faith and sometimes with disillusionment. One of the great things about the dinner I was attending was that it brought encouragement and recognition to teachers from all segments of that cosmopolitan community. So some came from affluent Long Island while others came from tough underserved impoverished sections of Brooklyn. But all were celebrating learning, hope, faith and possibility - and their energy and commitment to kids permeated the room and enveloped me.

The next afternoon I got to be a part of another little piece of New York, that of working the system! My long time friends and colleague Howard Capell, Esquire had always taken on Lutheran schools legal issues. He served us with extreme competence, with all his connections and with a passion for mission. I knew my evening with him would again be special. He had promised to pick me up at 6:00, but around 4:00 the cell phone rang. “I have just crossed the TriBorough Bridge. Get to the corner of 93rd and Second and I’ll pick you up in a few minutes”. Naturally, he was on the phone as I climbed into the car. ”See you in 20 minutes’, was the message to the next contact.” “Just come down to the street.” So some 20 minutes later the well dressed gentleman on the curb of Fifth Avenue in mid-town came to our car door to hand us well placed tickets for that night’s performance of La CageAux Folle. Howie has his police contact who got to the half-price ticket counter in Times Square the minute it opens. He finds out what’s available, puts on hold a couple tickets, notifies the next person in the process who picks up the tickets who gets them to the person who meets our car on Fifth Avenue and hands us the tickets as we roll along.

Next stop is Times Square. Howie identifies the officer patrolling the section. With a quick nod he directs us to a parking garage where an attendant is waiting, the car is parked, and we are back on the street in 90 seconds. The patrol officer had been the one who first investigated and then noted what was going on with that failed bomb attempt recently. He recounts those events to us in vivid and chilling detail. Howie, of course, knows him by name and tells him that he has already sent a generous donation to the Police Benevolent Society in honor for this particular public servant.

But we wanted to eat and had no pre-theater reservation. Howie took one look at the famous restaurant across the street, asked the officer about chances for table, without reservations. “It may take up to 5 minutes”, came the reply,” but come with me.” The Maître de was by-passed; the manager had a table for us and only 3 minutes had elapsed. The service, drinks and dinner were great. The show was even better. The car-parking fee was, of course complimentary and Howie and I continued on our post-theater evening.

That, too, is how the system works in New York and I am fortunate enough to have a friend who knows exactly how to use it!