"Because of You, We Have Hope": Jenny Simpson Sends a Letter of Support to New York
Jenny Simpson, eight-time NYRR New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile champion, a Rising New York Road Runners ambassador and special advisor and an Olympic & World Championships medalist, wrote a letter to New York expressing her love for the city where she has competed for years. New York is currently an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic and its hustle and bustle has been temporarily silenced while its residents shelter in place and its frontline workers keep long hours to ensure our health and safety.
Dear New York City,
My birthday is in August, and when I was a teenager all I wanted to do was visit New York City. The timeless stories and the glittering images of the city attracted my sense of ambition, even at that young age. What are shows like on Broadway? Who was riding in all those yellow cabs? Was Times Square really still bustling in the middle of the night? How could Central Park be big enough to escape the city for a picnic? I didn’t want to be told how it was, I wanted to stand among the giants and experience the answers to these questions. For my 15th birthday, my wish was going to come true with a family trip to the Big Apple over fall break.
The trouble is, my 15th birthday was in 2001. That fall, the world changed in front of my adolescent eyes as the news images of New York City changed our lives forever. I never made it to the city that year, but my idea of such a magical destination was being reconstructed by daily terrifying news coverage.
My young mind could only perceive this tragedy as an ending. I remember being 15 years old and feeling the selfish pang of sadness that I had missed out on New York City. I made my way through high school and went far away from home for college. It was nine years and a developmental lifetime later when I finally made that trip to New York City. I got there and Broadway was bright as ever, yellow cabs were everywhere, Times Square indeed bustling at all hours, and Central Park was the promised oasis.
I realized then that even though this city had been unimaginably shaken, it had powerfully held on to its identity. What I love about New York City is not the attractions it has to offer but rather the indelible and unyielding spirit that cannot be crushed. As the years go by, New York teaches me over and over that it’s not just about being tough, it’s about being tough again and again. It’s not just about loving one another, it’s about loving again and again. I have watched the city’s resilience through a number of crisis and I have learned what it means to be New York Strong. It’s not just about being a patriot, volunteer, spouse, a friend. It’s about being all of those things in the dark because someone else needs me to be a light. Among our brightest lights in the city at this moment are the thousands of healthcare workers fighting on the front lines. You are our heroes and it is because of you, we have hope.
I’m home in Colorado now, isolated from the world and far from New York City. All across the globe, few are outside this virus’ reach. I meditate on the mountain views from my backyard and I think of all of you. I think of the deep bedrock you’re built on, the strength I’ve seen rise from your streets, the skyscrapers that make a dreamer feel daring and yet small. I see my mountains and I feel peace knowing that they, like the city of New York, through anything fate can throw at us, will undoubtedly remain.