Rudy

A friend of mine who lived and worked in the New York City area during the September 11th attack had this to say about the then-mayor Rudy Giuliani, and in many ways she summed up my feelings about him, and also taught me things I did not know about him. In general I find him to be a likable person, and so I wanted to share her thoughts and perspective on this man with all of you. Also, I just enjoy the hell out of reading most anything my friend writes. I'll leave this entry anonymous because I'm not sure if she really wants to be known for what she posts on her blog, but I would like to point out this is not my work, but I do share her feelings:

Rudy Giuliani.

Yeah, he’s been milking it for ten years, and everyone’s tired of hearing about it, including New Yorkers. But listen: Rudy Giuliani was a fucking hero. During a time when everything was uncertain and leadership was severely lacking at the national level, Rudy stepped in and behaved in a truly courageous and admirable way. He was a true leader, and I haven’t really seen many of them in politics in my lifetime, before or since.

He was also supremely, painfully human. He attended hundreds of funerals, spent days on end at Ground Zero, comforted strangers, cried in public. He was clearly exhausted and so obviously sad, sad in the way everyone was, and that, maybe more than anything else, made him relate-able, lovable, and trustworthy.

It was a relief to surrender to his leadership and be able to trust that he was taking care of us as best as anyone possibly could. Do I wish he’d STFU about 9/11 every single time he opens his mouth? Sure. But truth be told, there are times–lots of them–when I feel uncontrollably compelled to run my mouth about 9/11 non-stop, even in completely incongruous situations, so, you know. I get it. And I’ll forever feel good, safe, grateful just by looking at him, which is… well… well done, Mayor.