…as originally appeared on AOL NEWS

(May 3) — There’s an old New York joke about Shakespeare in the Park; Central Park, that is. Hamlet is being performed. During the death scene, the entire audience leaves. They didn’t want to get involved.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case when three New York street vendors heard or saw something suspicious and alerted police to a Pathfinder that might have exploded. And nine years after a hole was blasted in the ground at the World Trade Center, and in our hearts; and a few days after a car bomb almost exploded in Times Square, life goes on, as usual.

New Yorkers are a rare breed, not quite like overly polite Southerners, kindly Midwesterners or sunny Californians, but part of, to paraphrase former Mayor David Dinkins, a great mosaic that is America. Constructed to endure; built for speed, not for comfort; aware that their slice of the land may be a bit rougher around the edges.

We’re talking about a tough town. In New York, you know you’ve had a good day when you’re able to find a parking spot. Cab rides sometimes resemble bumper cars. It often takes longer to get to the airport than to get to your destination once you board the plane. Another New York joke goes: A man walks up to a stranger to ask directions. “Excuse me, sir, could you please tell me how to get to the Empire State Building, or should I just go f*** myself?”

But the truth is, New Yorkers have hearts of gold; underneath the crusty exteriors are the kind of people, like those street vendors, who care very much about the world around them, about their fellow citizens.

And New York can boast about one of the finest police departments in the nation. We’ve lived through brownouts, blackouts and, not without deep loss and heartbreak, 9/11.

President George W. Bush was mocked after that tragedy for saying, two weeks later, “Get down to Disney World in Florida. Take your families and enjoy life, the way we want it to be enjoyed.”

It was the best thing he could have said. That was the day George W. Bush and the rest of America became New Yorkers.